


Mission: Avengers 2

by ChibiDawn23



Series: Mission: Avengers [3]
Category: Mission: Impossible (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:54:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 22,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28701756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiDawn23/pseuds/ChibiDawn23
Summary: Seven months since Manhattan and neither Will or Clint is handling the aftermath of the Chitauri invasion well. Dealing with that on top of an old enemy with revenge on the brain is going to make recovery even harder, but these brothers have their teams' backs and more importantly, they have each other's. Featuring Will/Jane, Pepperony.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, William Brandt/Jane Carter
Series: Mission: Avengers [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2103894
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

_Baltimore, Maryland_

_Sixteen year old William Brandt sat cross legged on his bunk facing the hallway. "Come on, man, you can't stay in there forever."_

" _Wanna bet? The bathtub's pretty comfortable."_

_Will rolled his eyes, rocking back on his bed. He crossed his arms over his blue shirt. "It can't be that bad," he said._

" _Again, wanna bet?"_

" _This is what you get for showing off," Will reminded him. "Just get your ass out here. I won't laugh, I promise."_

" _Liar."_

" _I won't!"_ I might….

_There was a pause of silence, and then the hall bathroom door opened. A foot in a pointed shoe stepped into the hall, followed by a body in a Robin Hood-esque shirt and pants that laced at the throat._

_And the entire thing was a bright grape jelly purple._

_Will burst out laughing. "Dude, you look freakin' ridiculous!" He sprawled on his bed, burying his face in his pillow._

_Clinton Brandt flipped his brother off. "You jerk, you said you wouldn't laugh!" He came into their bedroom and collapsed on his bottom bunk. "I'm not doin' it."_

" _Oh come on, Clint….it's not that bad…" Will bit his lip. Oh God, he was lying through his teeth. "Just think, a couple of weeks and you'll have enough money for the car…"_

" _Not worth it," Clint groaned. "How the hell did I let myself get talked into this?"_

" _Musta been a pretty smooth-talking clown," Will tittered._

" _You suck, little brother."_

" _And you're a manly man in tights," Will countered. "And a performing monkey for the next two weeks!"_

_An arm reached up from below him and yanked on his leg, nearly jerking Will off his bed. "Hey!" Will protested as he grabbed onto the headboard to keep from falling off. "Okay okay I'll shut up!"_

" _One more word, one more Robin Hood reference and the next thing I put an arrow through will be you," Clint threatened._

" _I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Will apologized. He hopped off the bed, landing on his feet next to his brother's bunk. Clint was lying on his back, arms crossed behind his head. "Maybe you'll meet some babely trapeze girl and-" He paused. "If you're already in the circus…where do you run off to?"_

 _Clint tried so very hard not to laugh. It didn't work. The corners of his mouth twitched. "Trapeze is nice," he said finally. "_ Contortionist _, though," he said, wiggling his eyebrows, "that's much better."_

" _Clinton Francis Brandt!"_

_Clint flinched and Will flushed as their mother's voice admonished him from the hallway. Laura Brandt stood in the doorway, the look on her face expressing how unimpressed she was with her son's line of thought. And the use of all three of his names just made it worse."Clint" or "Will" was one thing, "Clinton" or "William" was another, and "Clinton Francis" or "William Donald" and it was better to apologize fast and run like hell._

" _Sorry Mom," Clint replied quickly._

_Laura raised an eyebrow. "I catch you talking like that again, and you're not too old to have your mouth washed out with soap."_

" _Yes ma'am," Clint said. Will stayed silent. Their mother was a small woman but you did not piss off Laura Brandt._

" _Clint, your father said he would drive you to the fairgrounds," Laura continued. "He's waiting downstairs."_

" _Okay Mom," Clint said. He eased himself off his bunk, purposely digging an elbow into his brother's side as he passed. Will tried not to groan._

_Laura smiled. "We'll be there to catch your big debut," she told him._

" _Awesome," Clint muttered. Their mother ruffled his hair as he walked by her. Clint's footsteps disappeared down the stairs._

_Will looked at his mother. Laura met her son's eyes._

_And the two of them chuckled. "Thank God it's only for a couple of weeks," she said._

" _Tell me about it," Will moaned. "How do you think I feel, I have to go to school and listen to everybody talk about 'The Amazing Hawkeye.'" He rolled his eyes. "We'll never hear the end of it."_

" _Does that make you the Amazing Hawkeye's Little Brother?" Laura asked._

_Will stuck his tongue out at her. "Don't remind me." He sat down on the bed without another word._

_Laura frowned. The mood had gone from joking to serious in half a second. She sat down next to her son. "Okay, what's wrong?" she asked._

_Will didn't say anything at first. Laura didn't press him. She waited._

" _I'll forever be known as his little brother," Will finally said._

_Ah. Laura nodded. "I wondered when we'd have this conversation," she said. "You guys always seemed okay with being twins. I figured you'd grow out of it eventually."_

" _It's not even that I don't like bein' his twin," Will said. "I like my brother, Mom, seriously. But sometimes…" he leaned back against the footboard. "It's like there's only one of us."_

" _You boys are too much alike for your own good," Laura admitted. "You're both strong willed. I've seen you finish each other sentences. Sometimes I swear you guys know what the other is thinking." She looked at Will. "But I also know-and other people know-that you are two very different young men. There's a reason Clint is the athlete and you're the brains of the operation." She smiled, and Will grinned back in spite of himself. "He's getting a little more attention now because the circus promoter saw him at the shooting range, and right now, he's in the spotlight." She put an arm around her youngest. "But someday it'll be your turn. My boys were both destined to be great." She smiled. "And I wouldn't be surprised if someday, your big brother is just a little bit jealous of you."_

_She looked at him, and Will nodded. He glanced at his brother's bedside clock. "We're gonna be late," he said, sliding off the bed. "Wouldn't want to miss the debut of The Amazing Hawkeye."_

* * *

Twenty-five years later, Special Agent William Brandt lay on the couch in his parent's home thinking about that day. Outside, snow was falling, big movie-studio flakes. He lay on his side, facing the Christmas tree glowing in the corner. It was a few days after Christmas, but Mom never took the tree down until New Year's. She and Dad were in Saratoga Springs, New York, for a long-overdue long weekend.

Will hadn't told his mother he was in the area for that express reason. If he'd said he was nearby, she would have insisted on staying home for the holiday to spend time with him. The nature of his job meant he wasn't around very often, and if he was, it was never for very long.

He was _tired_. He'd just come off an assignment in Honolulu, Hawaii, and he could have driven all the way to his apartment from the airport but…Mom and Dad's was closer. His team leader, Ethan Hunt, could see the toll the past seven months had taken on him, and ordered him to take a vacation. _Actually, it was more like 'forced'_ , Will reminded himself ruefully. He wondered how the team was doing now, in London. _Probably better_ , he thought to himself. He hadn't exactly been at the top of his game. Ethan was probably still pissed at him. Benji had never looked so disappointed, and Jane... _God. Jane._ He hoped she was doing okay.

Jet lag had kicked his ass. He'd unlocked the front door, tossed his go bag on the steps, locked the door, and collapsed on the couch, shoes, jeans, jacket and all.

Will's eye caught one of the ornaments on the tree and he closed his eyes, remembering. It was a small nine millimeter, painted in candy cane stripes of red and white glitter. His eyes opened and drifted up and down the tree until he spotted the other one-a six-inch pointed arrowhead with the same paint scheme. The gun belonged to him-the arrowhead to his brother.

He wondered where Clint was at the moment. Clint was on a forced sabbatical from his job. Will hadn't spoken to him in a couple of weeks. It seemed as though the Brandt brothers were off their game right now. _Not that it's exactly our fault._

Unwittingly, his mind wandered back seven months to a war zone.

He forced the thought from his mind. He didn't want to remember it. He'd almost lost his brother in New York City, twice, and he wasn't ready to relive it. It was the first time he'd really gotten a taste of what his brother dealt with as an agent of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement & Logistics Division- _SHIELD_ , he reminded himself, _just SHIELD_. And he wasn't handling his newfound revelation on the world very well.

As a Field Agent turned Analyst turned Field Agent with the Impossible Missions Force, Will had seen his share of scary, off the wall, terrifying things but…not once had he ever encountered gods, monsters and aliens. _In our line of work you have to suspend reality_ , he remembered someone telling him.

He'd tried. For three weeks he had. And then it had caught up with him. The nightmares had started. He'd thought he was hiding them...until Honolulu. Until he and Jane had been undercover and he'd almost gotten her killed. She'd been upset with him since New Zealand anyway, and after Honolulu, he wasn't sure if she'd ever speak to him again. He'd screwed up royally. Enough so that he and Ethan had gotten into it and Ethan had sent him home.

But if he wasn't handling this well, he knew his brother was handling it much, much worse. He'd been through hell. Clint had been through all seven circles, the Devil and purgatory. The last time Will had been home with Clint, his brother had been withdrawn, silent, and very, very twitchy. Will could tell Clint hadn't slept in days, maybe weeks, by the circles under his eyes. He slept with his combat knife under his pillow while they'd been home. Will couldn't get him to talk about it, their parents couldn't know what had really happened, and Clint was dealing with it on his own. The brothers had a policy that they could talk about anything but...Clint wasn't talking. At least, not to his brother.

Hopefully his partner was with him on his forced leave. Natasha Romanoff had been by Clint's side and hardly left it since New York City. If there was anybody else in the world that could make his brother see sense, it was the Black Widow.

The lights on the tree blurred, and Will's eyes closed. The house was completely silent. Maybe, just maybe, he'd finally get a decent night's sleep. He always slept better when he was home. Maybe the falling snow would bury the past seven months. He'd wake up and the world would be a fresh slate to start over on.

Will heard the footsteps on the hardwood a split second before the hood was thrown over his head. His eyes snapped open to blackness and a wave of panic spread over him as his body was yanked from the couch and his hands were wrenched behind him. The sharp sensation of plastic zip tie handcuffs were digging into his wrists in the blackness. He thought he caught one of them with one of his tennis shoes when he heard a satisfying grunt of pain.

Then something blunt slammed into his head, and in the blackness he saw stars.


	2. Chapter 2

_Fiji-about that same time_

The feeling hit him like a sledgehammer.

Clint Barton's entire body went rigid and his eyes went wide. His fingers grasped for the dive knife he knew was on the table next to him, and the hard handle felt reassuring in his hand. His entire body was on alert. Battle ready. Tense. Looking for the threat.

A threat he didn't see. But he knew it was there.

He waited a moment. _Focus_ , he commanded himself. _Remember where you are_.

The beach and the blue water of the Pacific Ocean came into focus as his heart pounded in time with the waves crashing on the beach. A warm breeze wafted over his arms, making him shiver despite the eighty degree heat. He registered the feeling of the bamboo chair he was sitting in, currently gripping one armrest like his life depended on it.

_You have heart_...

Right now, that heart was pounding. God _damn_ it, there was something out there, but he couldn't see it.

_You're fine. It's nothing. You're in Fiji. There's nothing out there. Threat neutralized. Come on, Clint._ Focus.

A figure out in the water came up for air about the same time as Clint's panic attack. She walked slowly out of the water like James Bond's greatest fantasy, in a black bikini, her red hair sexy as hell even though it was plastered to her head because of the saltwater. Natasha Romanoff walked calmly up the beach, wringing out her hair as she approached her partner. She got about halfway up the beach and paused. Natasha could tell even from that distance that something was off. Clint rarely relaxed the way it was, but this posture...he was in combat ready mode. _Another nightmare_? She took a few more steps forward. "Clint?" she asked carefully. She knew he was armed and he wasn't called Hawkeye for no reason. "Everything okay?" She watched him intently. His eyes were unfocused, staring at but not seeing something a foot in front of him. He had a white knuckled grip on the dive knife and the arm of the chair on the little porch of the small thatched _bure_. "Clint!" she said more sharply now. "Snap out of it."

He blinked, saw her, and his body slumped. "Jesus, Tasha," he said apologetically. "Sorry."

"Another one?" Natasha asked him. She grabbed a towel and wrung her hair out, then wrapped it around her waist.

Clint nodded, releasing the chair and rubbing his forehead. He looked at her, and she saw the shame in his eyes. She'd seen that same look before, on the helicarrier. She hated that look. "Didn't mean to freak you out."

"You don't scare me," Natasha replied. To prove her point, she stood right in front of him and looked him straight in the eye. It was a position that very few would take with him lately. "What was it this time?"

Clint took a couple of deep breaths. "This one was different," he told her. "I haven't felt one like that since…" He frowned, and stood up so abruptly that even the lithe Black Widow had to take a step back. Her partner brushed by her and disappeared into the bedroom. She leaned in the door, looking at him curiously. Clint was rummaging through their shared bag. His fingers closed around something and he pulled it out. Natasha recognized the object as his satellite phone. He flipped it open and dialed a number, pacing the room as he did.

She came into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed, drawing her feet up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. A completely vulnerable position. One she'd never let herself be in with anyone else. Except him. He'd saved her life. She only wish she could help him now.

Natasha was worried for him. Loki had attacked in May. It was now December, and Clint hadn't recovered completely from the incident. He'd gone to the mandatory sessions with the SHIELD psychologists, mostly because he was hoping Fury would leave him alone. More than once she'd caught him late at night in the shooting range, unleashing arrow after arrow after arrow dead center into a target. It was a coping mechanism. But she'd also seen the nightmares, the ones he hid so well from everyone else, from Cap, from Stark, from Banner.

He'd never been able to hide anything from her.

He still blamed himself for Coulson's death. Natasha reminded him every chance she got that their handler's death hadn't been his fault. And she knew that his brother had reminded him when she wasn't around to do it. But Clint still beat himself up for it, retreating into a funk for days until he came back out of it, only to retreat into it again at any mention of the Battle of Manhattan or Loki. Seven months later and it was still all anyone talked about, so it came up a lot. And then one day it had just become too much.

Natasha knew, in a twisted sort of way, what he was going through. The Red Room had screwed with her mind royally, just as Loki had with Clint's. _You know what it's like to be unmade_ , Clint had told her that day on the helicarrier. _You know that I do_ , had been her answer and she wasn't humoring him.

Will Brandt had called her that summer. He'd only seen his brother a handful of times since New York and each time his brother was the same-distant, aloof, shrugging it off like it was no big deal when they both knew otherwise.

" _I'm scared for him, Tasha," Will had confided in her. "He's sinking into a hole, and I don't know if we'll be able to pull him out again."_

" _All we can do is hold onto the rope," Natasha had said. "So he has a way to climb out when he needs to."_

" _And what if he decides to stay?"_

_Natasha had frowned. "Then we pull him out whether he likes it or not."_

Now she watched as he grew more agitated as he paced the floor. "Will it's Clint, pick up the phone and call me back." He hung up, and redialed.

"Clint, what's wrong?" she asked him.

"I don't know," Clint replied, frustrated. "Maybe nothing. Maybe something. I don't know. All I know is I don't feel right and my brother isn't picking up his phone."

He hadn't talked to Will in a few months. Last time it hadn't gone so well. They'd argued. That had been right before he and Tasha had gone to Fiji. He hadn't wanted to leave like that. But he was mad. Mad at Fury. Mad at his crewmates. Mad at his brother. Pissed at Loki. But worse, pissed at himself.

Clint saw things better from a distance. A vantage point high on a roof where he could be in control and call the shots. Take the kill shot when he was ready. Everything was on his terms. So it was harder than _hell_ to have been _right there_. Right in the center of the action, and unable to do anything. A passenger in his mind as Loki blew the helicarrier to hell. Unable to stop himself as his fists beat the hell out of his partner. Out of his little brother.

When Steve had stuck him on that roof, he'd felt a little better. It was where he needed to be. And blowing the hell out of the Chitauri took his mind off the events of hours before. Being there with his brother was reassuring. His little brother, who always had his back. Even as Clint lay sure he'd been paralyzed from the waist down, in his head knowing that if he was, he deserved it, his brother was telling him it wasn't his fault, and swearing that he was going to be there for him.

So Clint had made a promise when he became an Avenger. In with his new team til the day he died. Every arrow a promise that it even if it took the rest of his life, he was going to make it up to his team, to his employer, and to his little brother.

That had worked for a while...right up until the nightmares had started. Until Fury had forced him to go to the SHIELD shrink, and until he started walking around the helicarrier and hearing his former friends call him a traitor. He'd put up with it for six months, until one day...one well-placed punch and Fury had sent him on a mandatory vacation.

"Maybe he's on a mission and can't," Natasha offered, snapping him back to the moment.

Clint shook his head. "No. No, something's not right. I can feel it."

"Clint, are you sure-"

He glared at her. "Goddamnit Natasha, this doesn't have anything to do with Loki." _Those feelings are completely different._ "Last time I felt like this my brother almost died." He ran a hand through his hair and hissed in frustration. He stopped and looked her in the eye. "I need to go home. Right now."

She didn't question him. "Okay," she said. Without another word, she began throwing their things into their bag, tossing him a pair of sweatpants and pulling out a pair of jeans for her. In one motion she had them on and buttoned over her bikini bottom. Clint had one hand gripping the phone, the other was yanking on his pants over his board shorts and reaching for his shoes. She'd been his partner long enough to trust him.

"Will? It's Clint. Pick up the phone damn it, and call me when you get this."

He hung up and threw it on the bed. It bounced once and landed in the bag Natasha was packing.


	3. Chapter 3

_Baltimore  
Stanley High School_

_Job fairs meant one thing and one thing only to Clint Brandt-he got out of seventh period advanced chem. As the last bell dismissed the seniors down to the gym, Clint was thrilled beyond belief that he got to skip Murdoch's class. He liked the subject matter, but his teacher drove him insane. Murdoch was a big beefy guy with a mad scientist lab coat, an evil cackle, and a wicked grading curve._

" _Remind me to skip the 'chemistry professor' table when we get down there," Clint muttered to his friend Darrin, loud enough for Murdoch to overhear. He didn't miss the steam coming from the teacher's ears._

" _The Army Guard always gives away cool stuff," Darrin told him as they stowed their books in their lockers. "Let's start there."_

" _You're just in it for the free stuff?"_

" _Hell yes," Darrin replied. "When I graduate I'm gonna ride around the country on my Harley."_

_Clint raised an eyebrow. "You don't have a Harley." He slammed his locker shut._

_Darrin grinned. "Not yet, but I will. See? Contrary to popular belief, I have goals."_

_Clint rolled his eyes and followed his best friend down to the gym. Two hundred seniors milled around the various booths. Clint purposely skipped the college ones. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do after he graduated, but he sure as hell knew he didn't want to go to more school._

" _Try your luck?"_

_Clint turned to see a Marine recruiter standing behind one of the tables. The guy looked like the poster child for the entire USMC- a trim black guy with brass buttons and a cocky grin. Clint stopped and glanced behind the Marine._

_A dart board was set up behind him. The number $50 was written in the bullseye, eight feet back against the gym wall. "What's my prize?" Clint asked him._

" _Three darts, hit the $50, get fifty bucks. Make two, get a hundred, hit all three, get one-fifty."_

" _Lemme see the cash." Clint's tone was calm and confident, not cocky, like the Marine expected from an eighteen year old high school senior._

_The Marine pulled three fifty dollar bills from his uniform. "You in?" he asked him._

_Clint accepted the darts and set his feet. His eyes zeroed in on the bullseye, just like they did every weekend with his dad at the shooting range._

_Thunk._

_Thunk._

_Thunk._

_Clint let out the breath he'd been holding and stepped sideways._

_The Marine looked at the board. Not only did Clint hit the bullseye-he'd put each dart inside the zero in the number 50._

_Clint grinned. "Gimme a real challenge," he said, letting some of his cockiness in his voice._

" _Sign up and I'll give you one." The Marine sounded impressed, but there was an edge in his voice. "Pretty soon it won't be darts and zeroes. It'll be tracer rounds on a mountain somewhere. Kid, I've been a lot of places, seen a lot of things, but I ain't ever seen anything like what you just did."_

_Clint glanced down the aisle. Will was a few booths away. He held out his hand, and the Marine recruiter forked over the money. "Wait five minutes," Clint said, and walked away._

_But not before grabbing a registration form._

_Four tables away, Will and his girlfriend Gemma were looking at a table for a vet's clinic. Pawsitively Pets was looking for a summer intern. "Think I could go full-time after the summer, if I do a good job?" Gemma asked._

_Will nodded. "They'd be stupid not to let you," he replied. "Grab an app."_

_Gemma smiled. "I knew I liked you," she said. "You're good for my ego."_

_He grinned as she reached for a pen. A table behind him caught his eye, and he looked over. "Hold up," he said with a questioning glance. "This seems a little um….overt for you guys, isn't it?"_

_Big white letters were staring back at him. CIA._

" _If I was recruiting you for something covert," the woman in the dress suit and skirt replied, "I wouldn't be here. We're just like any other office-we need computer technicians, administrative assistants…"_

_Will frowned. "No thanks," he said finally. "I think I'm gonna be a cop like my dad." Gemma tugged on his arm, and he turned to leave._

" _Solve the code, get a cookie?" the woman offered._

_Will snorted, and glanced at Gemma. She shrugged. "Go for it," she said._

_The woman handed him a piece of paper, a scramble of numbers and letters._

_He studied it for a few seconds, then snorted. "No thanks," he said. "Never been a Yankees fan." He handed the piece of paper back to her, and he and Gemma continued down the line, ignoring the cookie._

_The woman was watching him incredulously. She'd been doing high school fairs for six years. Not one person had ever cracked the code._

_Her eyes followed Will down to the Marine recruiter's booth, where he threw three perfect bulls-eyes and claimed his money. The Marine recruiter looked like someone had slapped him._

_When the fair was over, her next stop was to the registrar's office. She needed that kid's specs. He would be perfect for the CIA but, his skills were far more suited to a fellow organization..._

* * *

"Wake up, Agent Barton."

Will was no stranger to being unconscious. Hell, in the past year, he'd been in a car that had gone over a bridge, at least two gunfights, almost fallen out a 120-plus story window, gone hand to hand with a terrorist, been in an explosion, almost drowned, suffered broken ribs, gotten chased by a giant green monster and gotten his ass kicked by an alien. Being kidnapped and knocked unconscious, that was _tame_. He'd been awake for a solid five minutes, but playing it safe by remaining completely still and breathing slowly. He'd gone through this at the Farm-CIA boot camp. Staying in control was all part of the game.

"Come on, Clint, wakey wakey."

_Don't call me Clint_ , would have been his automatic response. It was so old. People had been mistaking him for his brother, and vice versa, for years. But he didn't say anything, because that phrase had given him pause. _Clint…they think I'm Clint…_

The voice that kept prodding him was nasally. Isabelle Moreau had been more threatening than this guy. Hell, _Benji_ would sound like a better criminal mastermind. Will kept his breathing even. Waiting for his kidnapper to make another mistake.

"Come on, Clinton Brandt, I know they didn't hit you _that_ hard…"

It took every ounce of Will to stay calm and umoving. What he'd just heard shocked the _hell_ out of him.

There were only a handful of people in the world who knew that when Clint joined Shield almost fifteen years ago, he'd changed his last name. There was CIA-crazy, and then there was SHIELD insanity. Clint dealt with guys who could level cities with a fireball from their hands, or giant green rage monsters that could leap forty stories in one jump. It was a whole new level of scary. Clint, ever the protector, had switched his name from Brandt to Barton ("If I don't keep some of the letters the same, _I'll_ forget who I am," he had said) to keep his family safe.

Will could count the number of people who knew Clint's real last name on both hands. Four were in New York, or had been last time he'd checked. Mom and Dad were on vacation. One was dead. One was on another planet in another universe. One was on a flying aircraft carrier God-knew-where. And Will was here.

This guy had just called him Clinton Brandt.

This guy _knew_.

_But he doesn't know_ , Will reminded himself. _He thinks I'm Clint._

It was time to wake up. Will rotated his ankle, which was ziptied to his other foot. Just enough movement to signify he was awake. He needed to see who _thought_ they were in charge of this mess.

He felt a pair of heavy boots dent the carpet in front of his face and braced himself for a foot to the face. Wouldn't be the first time. He heard them bend down, and then the world went blindingly white as the hood was pulled off his head. He blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the white world around him.

It was definitely the _cleanest_ prison he'd ever woken up in. The carpet was snowy white and thick. He could make out a blurry white couch on the edges of his peripheral vision. On one wall, he caught a metal box with wires hanging from it- _phone, maybe? Video screen?_

"Hey! He's up!" the criminal mastermind announced to the room, like he was announcing that Will had just walked into happy hour. "Rise and shine, buddy."

Will saw a pair of tan pants and black shoes walking toward him, and a figure crouched down and filled his vision. "Glad you're up. Sorry about the zip ties, but I've heard about your aim."

"Untie me and I'll show off for ya," Will said. It sounded like something his brother would say. "I'll shoot an apple off the top of your head." _Course with yet another head injury I could very well miss…not that I'd be terribly upset._

"You know, that's tempting, really," the guy said, almost sounding like he meant it. He opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by someone else coming into the room. "We find her?"

The guy must have nodded because Will didn't hear a response. "Good. Bring her by." He stood up and looked down at Will. His face came into focus. He looked awfully familiar, though Will couldn't figure out why. "Gotta go make a couple of phone calls. Hey, by the way, you wouldn't happen to have Natasha Romanoff's number…would you?"

"Left it in my other hood," Will replied with an awkward shrug. "Sorry."

"You don't have your girlfriend's number? Makes you kind of a lousy boyfriend, doesn't it?"

This guy confused the hell out of Will. He obviously was smart enough to pull off a kidnapping-a second one was in the works, smart enough to have hacked SHIELD to get his brother's and Natasha's information, yet he didn't know that Will _wasn't_ Clint or that Clint and Natasha weren't in a relationship. _Who the hell_ is _this guy?_


	4. Chapter 4

_New York City_

"Tony."

Bruce Banner pushed his glasses back up on his nose and glanced over at his fellow Avenger. Tony Stark was engrossed in a holographic blueprint of his latest building. Bruce looked down at Tony's Starkphone lying on the table next to him. Tony had Black Sabbath up so loud Bruce was surprised he wasn't deaf. Or maybe he was, considering he paid zero attention to his phone. " _Tony!_ " Bruce yelled, a little louder.

Tony blinked. "Yes, Leonardo?"

Bruce frowned. "Ninja Turtle references, really? Your phone is ringing."

Tony glanced over at it. "Eh, she can leave a message."

Bruce passed him a schematic from his screen to Tony's holopad. He glanced at the phone. MISSED CALL FROM NATALIE RUSHMAN. He frowned. "Who's Natalie Rushman?"

"We-ell," Tony said, plugging some numbers into the blueprint, "she used to be my personal assistant."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "I thought Pepper-"

"Pepper's CEO. I needed a replacement. Natalie had all the right…assets."

Bruce snorted. "I'm sure she did."

"Yep," Tony agreed. "Til she turned out to be a SHIELD plant with a love of dead languages and kickass kung-fu skills." He tossed another schematic back at Bruce and Bruce blew it up on his screen. "You know her," Tony added.

Bruce pocketed his glasses as Tony slid his phone over to him. Bruce inspected the called ID photo on the missed call screen. "Wait-"

"You betcha Jolly Green," Tony said, crumpling up the holo and tossing it in the virtual trash.

"Natasha Romanoff?" Bruce laughed. "SHIELD's had their eye on you for a while now, huh."

"Almost as long as you," Tony shot back. Bruce nodded, conceding the point. Tony's phone lit up again. "You gonna answer that?" Bruce asked him.

"I don't really want to," Tony replied. "For one thing, she and Featherhead are supposed to be on vacation-"

"Vacation," Bruce muttered. "Not really." He looked at the phone as it vibrated on the table. "Does Natasha make a point of calling you on a regular basis?"

"Only when Pepper's out of town." Off Bruce's raised eyebrows, Tony amended, "Eh Pepper doesn't think that joke's funny either."

"So it might be important," Bruce said.

"Maybe," Tony said, returning to his schematic, ignoring the phone.

Bruce reached over and picked up the phone. Tony opened his mouth to say something, but Bruce's eyes flashed green. "Ask her to bring back some coconuts," Tony muttered, spinning the hologram around.

"Natasha?" Bruce asked into the phone. Ever since he'd nearly killed her on the helicarrier, Bruce had been working to make it up to her. He wasn't sure she trusted him yet, but he was doing his damndest.

" _Dr. Banner?"_ Natasha's voice sounded very confused. " _Where's Tony_?"

"He's here," Bruce responded, tucking the phone under his ear and glancing sideways at Tony. Tony's response was to crank the music. "He's just um….inventing."

" _Dr. Banner, this may sound strange but…have you heard from Agent William Brandt?"_

That brought Bruce up short. He narrowed his eyes. "Will?" he said. He and the IMF agent had gotten along pretty well on the helicarrier, and had stayed in touch a little after Manhattan. "No, not in a while," he admitted. "Last I heard he was headed to Honolulu for a mission with the rest of his team," Bruce replied. "Why?"

The truth was, he and Will had kept in touch quite a bit. Though Bruce was _not_ a medical doctor or a psychologist by any means, he and Will had kept in touch almost every week for the first few months after Manhattan. And though he wasn't truly a doctor, Bruce hadn't said anything, keeping their calls private. He hadn't even told Clint. Clint was dealing with enough the way it was.

" _Doc, it's Clint_ ," Clint's voice came over the phone. " _You haven't heard from him at all lately?"_

"No." Bruce reached past Tony and turned the music off. Tony swore. "I'll poke you with the nearest pen," he threatened.

_Bring it_ , Bruce mouthed back. "Clint, what's going on?"

Tony looked up, mildly interested. "Yeah, okay," Bruce said. "We'll see you in a few hours." He hung up and handed the phone back to Tony. Tony stared at it for a moment before taking it. "What's up with Feather Head and Romanoff?"

"You remember Clint's brother, Will?" Bruce asked. "The IMF agent?"

Tony nodded. "I liked him. He thought I was funny."

"He's missing."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Whaddya mean, 'missing'?"

"I mean, Clint hasn't heard from him and he's not answering his phone." Bruce replied. He thought a moment. "Tony…." He managed a smile even though he was worried. "Break out JARVIS. I need you to find somebody for me."

* * *

_London_

"And once again here I am…sitting in the van….staring at the computer. Waiting for the action to happen. It takes skill. Power of observation-"

"Hey, Benji? Observe that I can _hear_ you and it's getting annoying," Jane Carter muttered into her mic. "Next time Benji, I promise, _you_ can wear the dress."

"If it gets me out in the field I'm all for it," Benji Dunn retorted.

Inside the yard party, Jane wished, once again, that there was somewhere other than her dress to stick a microphone. It looked very weird trying to subtly talk to your chest. _Maybe we need to get those implant things like Brandt had_ ….

Brandt. Jane forced his face from her mind as she struggled to keep up the alluring façade she was forced to wear-again. She was worried about him, but she couldn't worry right now. They hadn't heard from him since Honolulu. Ever since Ethan'd sent him home after the nightmare.

After he almost got her killed.

"Target's on your left," she heard Ethan in her ear, interrupting their banter. "Get in there, Jane," he added. "We're a man down, we need all the intel we can get."

Inside the catering van outside, Benji kept sharp tabs on Ethan and Jane inside as they both made their move toward the husband and wife targets. This op was simple intel gathering, something that Jane could do quite literally in her sleep and Ethan could charm out of almost anyone, but Benji wouldn't let either of them out of his sight. He'd been a little paranoid since Honolulu.

He liked his computers. Benji wasn't really a people person in the sense that he made a good undercover field agent. He'd passed the test to put him out in the field with Jane and Hanaway, but no matter how much he complained about never being able to wear a mask, truthfully, he was much happier in front of the computer screen.

Something broke into his thoughts, a shrill ringing. He scrambled for the phone and picked it up, looking at the caller ID.

_PRIVATE_.

Benji frowned. _What the hell_ … He picked up the phone. "Uh….hello?"

" _Is this Benji Dunn?"_

The voice on the end of the phone sounded familiar. "Depends on who's calling," Benji replied.

" _Benji, this is Clint Barton_ ," the voice said. _"I'm Agent Brandt's brother. We met in New York?_ "

Benji's jaw dropped.

"Benji," Ethan's voice sounded in his ear. "What the hell is going on out there?"

"Hawkeye?" There was a certain measure of awe in Benji's voice. He'd seen the man in action in New York and while he'd heard of SHIELD's expert marksman by reputation, it had been a whole other ball game watching him launch arrows from almost a mile away from a target and nailing them in the eye. And now he was on the phone with him. "How'd you get this number?"

" _Look, I'm trying to find my brother. Is he with you?"_

"Uh," Benji scrambled. "No. He um, actually, he's on sort of leave?"

" _Will doesn't take vacations_ ," Clint's voice countered.

"Ah, yeah, it was sort of a forced vacation," Benji admitted.

"Benji, what are you talking about?" That came from Jane, but Jane had easily picked up on _who_ at least Benji was talking about.

" _What do you mean a 'forced' vacation?"_ Clint demanded, concern lacing his voice. Benji bit his lip. Then he remembered he was dealing with Will Brandt's brother. The world's greatest marksman. Will Brandt's protective, older brother.

"There was a…situation on our mission-"

"Benji-not another word!" Ethan cautioned. Benji chose that moment to rip out his earpiece and set the computer on MUTE so neither of his team could get a word in edgewise. He would pay for it later. Ethan would be pissed. But Will was Benji's friend. And Clint wouldn't have called for no reason.

" _What kind of situation, Benji_?" Clint asked, tense.

Benji closed his eyes, remembering.

* * *

_Honolulu_

" _You look beautiful in that dress," Will muttered to Jane. He sat on the roof of a bank across the street from the hotel and peered in at her from a scope._

" _Shut up," Jane replied, tugging the hibiscus clip from her hair and letting her hair drop to her shoulders._

" _Want me to look away while you slip into something more comfortable?" he asked her. He watched her flip him off and chuckled."Nothin' I haven't seen before," Will added._

" _Will…" Jane's voice made him pause. He frowned. "Promise me….don't let him…I mean, before-"_

" _I promise, Jane," Will replied, the joking tone gone from his voice. It had suddenly got very warm in the rooftop, and it wasn't because it was eighty degrees at ten at night. "I've got your back."_

" _Target entering the building," Ethan announced. "Just hit the elevators. On his way up."_

_Jane let the dress fall from her shoulders, and Will got a full view of his teammate. He shifted positions and suddenly wished it was his brother up here instead of himself. Clint was a better distance killer than Will was._

" _You're up, Venus," Ethan's voice announced to both Will and Jane. He switched freqs. "Will…are you sure you've got this?"_

" _Yeah, boss," Will muttered. "I got this."_

" _You haven't really been 100% since we got here….I know you haven't been sleeping-"_

" _I said, I_ got _this," Will growled._

" _Fine," Ethan said shortly. "Then he's all yours."_

_Will returned his gaze to the scope. He watched Jane position herself in the chair in the room. Someone must have knocked, because he heard Jane say, "Come in," in a low voice._

_He stepped into the room and Will wanted to blow him away right there. It was a pity he had information they needed. The guy was lined up perfect in the sight. IMF had issued "shoot to kill" once they obtained the information they needed._

" _They say this is paradise," Renault said, his voice coming in loud and clear from the mic Jane had planted in the room. "But you are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," he said, stepping up to Jane. He was eyeing her and Will watched him like a hawk. Renault liked it rough. Too rough. Will hadn't wanted Jane to go in, but she was the only chance they had. Renault's weakness was a beautiful woman. And Jane could play to his level…for a while._ Promise me _, her voice rang in Will's ear. Will shifted position, his finger tensing over the trigger. They'd seen Renault's handiwork two nights ago. The woman had been barely recognizable. He wouldn't let that be Jane._

" _I noticed you couldn't stop staring," Jane replied. "I saw the way you handled my ex-boyfriend," she said. That had been Ethan, in a starring role. He wasn't used to having his ass handed to him, and Will knew how hard it was for Ethan to lose a fight. "Does that make you my white knight?" she asked._

" _I'm no white knight," Renault said._

" _Oh, I know," Jane said, and that was the key. The next moment, she was out of the chair and had Renault pinned to the bed. Will watched carefully though the scope for a moment or two. "Shit," he muttered. This was taking longer than he thought."She was supposed to stay in control. Ethan, it's not going so good. I don't think…she can't stay in charge... He's too big... Jane needs backup."_

_And then he heard her gasp in pain. Oh shit. "Ethan!"_

" _What?"_

" _Get the fuck up here!" Will yelled. He fingered the safety off. "Jane! Hold on, Ethan's coming!"_

_He heard Renault slap her, hard."You bitch, you belong to_ me _now."_

_The voice seeped its way into Will's mind and he gasped from the shock. Suddenly, it wasn't eighty degrees anymore, it was thirty below._ Your precious brother is mine _._

_Vaguely, he was aware of Benji yelling his name, but his mind was trapped. He couldn't register Jane struggling under Renault, couldn't hear Ethan telling him to shoot, goddamn it! His mind was frozen._ Loki...

_In his ear, he heard a piercing scream. It might have been Natasha. The Hulk had found her. And he was next-_

" _WILL!" Benji's voice cut through the panic, and Will gasped. "Fuck!" He blinked once, looking down the scope. He could hear loud banging in his ear-Ethan, trying to break the hotel door. Jane was screaming, and Renault was spouting things in French that Will didn't_ want _to translate. "Ethan hurry up!" he yelled. "I can't get a shot!" To Jane, he said, "Hold on honey, Ethan's coming. You gotta push Renault up a little, I can't get a shot, he's out of eyeline." Goddamn wall... He just needed Renault's body a little more toward the headboard, more in the window..._

_Then Jane did something that made Will's heart break. He heard her scream, "Will! Help me!" It was a strangled yell, and 'me' was cut off with a garbled cry._

_He couldn't get a shot. Renault had Jane pinned to the bed, flat against her. There was nothing for him to shoot. Nothing was a big enough target._ Jesus, Jane, oh God…. _"Come on Jane, kick him in the ass!"_

_He saw Renault's body heave upward and Will fired without a second thought. Red exploded on Renault's temple and the force of the shot knocked him sideways. "Jane!" Will yelled._

_In his ear, he heard, "Will. Get your ass in here_ NOW _." That was Ethan, and it was the hardest tone he'd ever heard._

_He left the gun and took off for the edge of the roof. In a move he learned from his brother, he pulled out the IMF standard grapple gun and fired into the brick, then leapt off the roof. He ratcheted down the side, released the cable, and sprinted into the hotel, past the shocked desk clerk, and bolted for the stairs. He took them three at a time._

Clint. Please be okay, Clint. _It was like being back in New York all over again. He was up there somewhere-NO, no_ Jane _was up there, and who knows what the hell Renault had done….He hit her floor and sprinted into the broken door._

_Renault's lifeless body was on the floor, and Ethan was on the bed with a coughing, sputtering Jane. "Ethan, is she-"_

_Ethan's green eyes glared at him, and he saw Jane. Bright red marks around her neck. Streaked mascara. An eye that would be black in the morning. Fresh bruising on her arms and wrists. Because he hadn't pulled the trigger. Hadn't taken the shot._

_The look in her eyes…betrayal. "Why didn't you shoot him?" Jane asked him helplessly. She was somewhere between fear, tears and shame. "You had the shot."_

" _I-I-" Will's hands drifted to his face and he ran a hand through his hair. "God, Jane, I-"_

" _Guys?" Benji's voice broke in tentatively. "Honolulu PD is on their way…you might want to get out of there." His voice was quiet, in shock from what had just happened._

" _Get out," Ethan hissed to Will in a low whisper._

_Will frowned. "What?"_

" _Get out," his team leader said, stronger this time. "You're_ not _mission ready, and I don't want you on this team until you are. You need_ help _Will," he growled. "Go home. Take a few weeks. Get some help. Get cleared by IMF Psych. I don't want you in the field with us until you're 100%."_

_Will looked at Jane. She looked away, not able to meet his eyes. "God Jane…I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I…" he was backing out of the room. He didn't know what else to say. This…this was a bigger screw up than Croatia._

* * *

There was silence on the end of the phone. "A-are you still there?" Benji tentatively asked the Avenger.

After a moment, he responded. " _Yeah, Benji, I'm still here. Did…did Will come back to DC?"_

"I assume so," Benji said. "Ethan won't let him back into the field 'til he's been cleared by psych, and he has to do that in DC so…."

There was silence again. " _Thanks,"_ Clint said.

"Ah….Agent Barton?" Benji asked. "Is Will okay?"

" _I don't know, Benji,"_ Clint's voice said worriedly. " _I just don't know."_


	5. Chapter 5

_Baltimore_

Natasha Romanoff had always wondered what it would be like to have a home to come home to. To finish a mission and come to a place where you had memories with a family, a bedroom full of photos, home-cooked meals…

She'd known Clint for several years, but this was the first time she'd ever seen the home he and Will had grown up in. She'd seen houses like it on missions-suburban paradise with an attached garage. But this one, as she got out of Clint's rented truck….this one seemed different. It could have been the Christmas lights in the window, lining the panes in squares of blue. It could have been the "WELCOME SANTA" wooden sign with candy-cane stripes in the front yard. Maybe it was the static clings of mice and presents in the window.

Or maybe it was what it represented. Natasha had had one once, but it had been so long she'd forgotten about it. The man standing next to her was the closest thing she had.

"His car is here," Clint said aloud, closing the door of the truck and slipping the safety off his gun. The bow was carefully stowed in the backseat of the truck. "Lights are all on."

"Don't people leave Christmas lights on all year?" Natasha asked, and Clint barked a short laugh.

"Only if you live in Texas," he replied. "No, Mom used to swear that leaving the lights on all the time would burn the house down. Will and I just got into the habit of turning them off before we went to sleep."

"Did he tell you on the phone when you talked when his flight got in from Hawaii?" Natasha asked.

Clint grimaced. "Late, I think," he admitted. "Had a hell of a layover in Denver." He was trying to forget that the last phone call he'd had with his brother had been an argument. He opened the garage door. "Mom and Dad are still on vacation, thank God," he said. "Hopefully they stay off grid for a while til we figure out what the hell's going on." He reached behind the deep freeze and retrieved a house key before reaching for the door handle.

"Clint," Natasha said. She played a flashlight over the back entrance to the garage. "Lock's broken," she observed. Clint came over. "Wood splinters in toward the garage. Someone came in through this door."

Clint nodded, and tried the door handle. The door slid open, and the two partners stepped inside the house. It was deathly quiet. Clint motioned for Natasha to go around him, and he covered her while she stepped silently through the kitchen. "Clear," she whispered as she surveyed the living room.

Clint saw Will's go-bag dropped just inside the living room wall. His brother had definitely been here. He slipped his gun into his pants waistband and followed Natasha all the way into the room. The Christmas tree lights were blazing. "Yeah, he was definitely here," he said. "Crashed on the couch." He sighed. "We used to do that when we were kids, try to catch Santa. Dad always got around us though, I still don't know how he did it."

"Clint, here," Natasha said. She crouched on the hardwood. "Blood," she said. "Could be Will's, could be someone else's."

Clint inspected the spray on the floor. He stood up and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, let's go over what we know," he said. "Will's car is here. His bag is here. He was definitely here. We've got blood on the floor, the door's unlocked, and someone broke in through the garage. Will's got a key, so it wasn't him…"

"Whoever got the drop on your brother was good," Natasha stated the obvious. "I've seen him in action. He could give you a run for your money."

"He's not that good," Clint replied automatically, big brother genes taking over. "But you're right. They had to have been watching him."

"But who is 'they'?" Natasha wondered. "What the hell is going on?"

Clint sighed. "Hell, I don't know. But it sure isn't good."

"We should call Stark and Banner back, let them know what we found," Natasha told her partner. He raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to protest, but Natasha cut him off. "Clint, they're gonna want to help. Banner especially."

"I don't want them to get involved with this," Clint replied.

"And see, that's your problem," Natasha informed him. He narrowed his eyes. "We're a _team_ , Clint. Will went through Manhattan same as the rest of us. So like it or not, if he's in trouble, if _you're_ in trouble, then you're getting backup whether you want to or not."

* * *

_London_

"What the hell did Clint Barton want?" Ethan Hunt asked Benji. The team was sitting at the airport, waiting for extraction back to DC. "And why the _hell_ did you take out your earpiece?"

"I didn't take it out," Benji replied.

"Benji, I asked you four times what the hell Agent Barton wanted and you didn't answer," Ethan pointed out. "You took your earpiece out."

"Because I couldn't have more than one conversation at a time, and at that particular moment I had _three_ ," Benji shot back. "I've only got the two ears, thanks."

"You sound like Brandt," Jane said, closing her eyes.

There was silence for a moment. "He was wondering where Will was, if we'd heard from him," Benji told them finally. "And I told him about the Honolulu mission."

"Ben _ji_ …" Ethan rubbed his temples.

"What?" Benji defended. "I wasn't going to lie to the world's greatest marksman."

"Did he say why he was looking for Brandt?" Jane asked.

Benji shook his head. "Not really. Though I did ask if everything was okay, and Agent Barton-Clint-said he didn't know."

The Virgin Atlantic gate attendant called boarding for their zone, and the three weary IMF agents got up to go board. "I have a bad feeling about this," Jane said.

Ethan shouldered his carry-on bag. "Not near as bad as I do," he replied.

He'd known Will wasn't mission ready. Will was a decent actor, but Ethan'd seen the signs for the past seven months. A part of him felt horrible for snapping at Will in Honolulu, but Jane had almost _died_. That was unforgivable. If Ethan had his way, no team member would ever die on his watch ever again. His team needed to be mission ready at all times, and Will wasn't there. He needed help. He'd needed a break.

Except now he was missing in action. He was about to board when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He shifted his go bag and pulled it from his jeans. "Hunt," he answered, half hoping it might be Will.

" _Agent Ethan Hunt?"_

Ethan paused, glancing around. Jane and Benji looked at him questioningly. He waved them forward and stepped out of line. To be expected, they both ignored the pointed gesture to get on the plane and followed him. "Who's this?" Ethan asked.

" _Agent Hunt, my name is Bruce Banner. I'm ah…I'm a friend of Will Brandt._ "

"Secure lines ain't what they used to be," Benji said, and Ethan shot him a Look. "Can I help you, Mr. Banner?"

" _It's Doctor, actually,"_ the nervous voice replied on the end of the phone. " _Agent Hunt, I'm wondering if you've heard from Agent Brandt in the past few hours?"_

"No," Ethan said. "You know something?" The distrust was evident in his voice. "How do you know Will?"

There was a pause on the end of the line, and then Mr.- _Doctor-_ Banner answered, "I was with him in New York. In Manhattan."

Ethan thought back. "I don't remember a Dr. Banner," he said.

Jane's eyes widened. "Ethan…is that Dr. _Bruce_ Banner?" She and Benji exchanged looks. "As in, the world's foremost expert in _gamma radation_?"

A vision of a massive green monster flashed in Ethan's mind, and he frowned. _No way_ …There'd been a few IMF agents assigned to track down Dr. Bruce Banner but he'd eluded them and they'd comehome empty handed. And now Ethan was talking to him on the phone.

* * *

_New York City_

Bruce Banner was finding it hard to concentrate. Ever since the phone call from Clint and Natasha, he hadn't been able to focus on work. He rubbed his eyes. Something funky was going down.

" _Sir, I believe I've located the number you were asking for_ ," JARVIS's disembodied voice announced from somewhere above Bruce's head. Bruce jumped a little, not used to Tony's invisible butler just yet. He looked around, his eyes settling on the screen in front of him. "Thanks, JARVIS." Bruce pressed the call button on the screen and waited.

" _Hunt_ ," the voice of Will's team leader said. Bruce could tell the private number on the screen concerned the IMF agent.

"Agent Ethan Hunt?" Bruce clarified, and waited.

" _Who's this?"_ He sounded suspicious.

"Agent, Hunt, my name is Bruce Banner. I'm ah…I'm a friend of Will Brandt." He heard the door slide back to the lab and Tony came in, holding a fifth of scotch and two glasses. He set one down and pointed to it. Bruce shrugged and nodded.

" _Can I help you, Mr. Banner?"_ Ethan asked. The tone made it evident that Bruce better make his point.

"It's doctor, actually," Bruce replied, as if the title would appease the agent into thinking that he was legit. "Agent Hunt, I'm wondering if you've heard from Agent Brandt in the past few hours?"

" _No,"_ Ethan said. _"You know something?"_ The title didn't work, Ethan sounded even more suspicious, if that was possible. Which meant Will hadn't checked in with his team. Something was _definitely_ funky. _"How do you know Will?"_

"I was with him in New York. In Manhattan." Bruce waited.

" _I don't remember a Dr. Banner,"_ Ethan said. But Bruce had had plenty of years of people lying to him, and Ethan was lying to him now. He could hear it.

"Well, you probably wouldn't. I didn't do a lot of talking," Bruce replied. "Look, Agent Hunt, his brother just called us, and he hadn't heard from Will in a while. We were hoping you had."

There was a pause on the end of the line, and then Ethan said, " _You haven't heard from him either?"_

"No," Bruce reiterated. "Look, nobody here wants to say it out loud, but something's not right. Where are you now?"

" _On our way to Baltimore_ ," Ethan replied.

"You should swing by Stark Tower in Manhattan," Bruce said, looking at Tony. Tony shrugged, but he heard him ask JARVIS to get a driver on the phone. "I think we need to talk."


	6. Chapter 6

_Somewhere in the Continental US_

Three things had occurred to Will Brandt in the past day. Thing One: He was definitely somewhere warm. Sunlight streamed in on the bright white living room. He'd gotten up at one point and relocated to a chair, but the sun kept coming around through the large windows. Thing Two: His hands were numb. And Thing Three- whoever the hell was holding him was _no_ criminal mastermind. At one point, Will had seen him trip over his own feet.

He'd had a chance to study him, when there weren't rays of sun streaming at his eyes. The guy was about 5'9". He didn't know how to dress. Brown pants, black dress shoes. He wore a white dress shirt rolled up to the elbows. And he had a serious problem with self-tanning.

About two hours ago, he'd sent one of his guys after someone. A _her_. Now those guys, they looked like your typical badasses. They were both built like Mack Trucks and wore black clothes and boots. He could not for the life of him figure out why they were taking orders from the guy in the suit.

He rotated his palms, trying to get some feeling back into his fingers. He'd tried wiggling his hands loose but whoever had tied the knots was a champ. He was starting to miss the zip ties. After he'd slipped them once and tried to take out the biggest guy in the room, he'd gotten his ass kicked (if Clint had seen it and the situation wasn't this bad, he'd have offered him some pointers), and they'd made the switch to rope instead.

Will sighed as he leaned back on the couch. As an analyst, his job was to know everything about everybody and every situation. The more information, the better prepared his team was for whatever mission came their way next. Having zero information and no idea what was happening was the same effect as his brother being blindfolded.

_Worthless. Totally and completely worthless_.

The stark white walls of the room were blinding. There were a few pieces of art here and there, but there was way, _way_ too much white. He stood up. They'd untied his ankles. Between Dumb and Dumber, he wasn't going anywhere, as he'd painfully demonstrated. He wasn't Ethan. One attempt was enough. He walked over to one piece of art and studied it. He didn't recognize the artist, but he knew the piece. It was an expensive painting.

A door opened, and he heard the singsong voice of his captor coming up the stairs from the basement. "Honey, I'm home!" he announced. Will rolled his eyes and purposely ignored him. He did not get a threatening vibe from this guy at _all_.

_God this was frustrating! What the_ hell _is going on, who the_ hell _is this guy, and what-_

Someone came into the room from what Will presumed to be a kitchen. Dumber. The big guy with the Mohawk. And he was pulling someone with him. She was tall, with red hair. She wore a black business skirt, black heels, and a white blouse.

Her eyes met his, and her mouth formed into an 'o'.

He couldn't help it. " _Pepper?"_ he asked, slackjawed.

* * *

He'd met Tony Stark's secretary a month or so after Manhattan. Ethan, Jane, Benji and Will had come up to help with cleanup. Naturally, that had turned into a shawarma feed at Tony's newfound 'favorite' place, which had then led to Tony inviting everybody up to Stark Tower-which at that point still was missing all the letters in STARK but the 'A'. Will highly suspected it had less to do with the billionaire being sociable than it did him wanting to show off the billion-dollar improvements he'd made to the place.

Jane and Will had been sitting down on the couch with a hard rock music channel on mute behind them, fascinated by the dynamics. "So that's your brother, huh?" Jane asked Will, watching Clint interact with Natasha and the rest of their team.

"Yeah," Will replied. "That's my brother."

"How come you never told us about him?" Jane asked.

Will grinned. "He's a superhero," he pointed out. "Needed to keep his secret identity a secret."

"I see," she replied. "Do your parents know what you do for a living?" Her tone was teasing.

"Yes," Will replied seriously, and Jane frowned. She hadn't been expecting that. "Clint and I never lied to them before, we weren't gonna start then." He looked at her seriously, swirling his glass. "We're pretty close," he said. "We tell each other everything."

"I see," Jane replied again, but there was a little bit of an edge to her voice. She stood up. "I'm gonna go find Benji. I'm sure he's drooling over Stark's tech somewhere." She left him sitting there.

Will frowned. _I did something stupid. I don't know what it was...but I did something wrong._ Sometimes, there were things even an IMF analyst missed.

"You know, you should really tell her," Tony Stark said, coming up behind him. Will looked up at him. The genius had his CEO and girlfriend on his arm, Pepper. Pepper nudged Tony to shut up, but Will had figured out her power over him only went so far.

"Tell her what?" Will asked, staring at the brickwork.

"That you like her," Tony said.

"Because _you_ were so straightforward with me?" Pepper cut in, trying to ease the awkward tension. She smiled at Will, and he nodded gratefully back. "Tony, go get a drink," she said.

"Okiedoke," Tony replied, unwinding his arm from hers. He disappeared toward the bar, where Ethan, Benji and Clint were congregated.

Pepper bit her lip. "Sorry about that, Will," she said. "Tony's never been subtle."

"That's okay, Pepper," Will replied. "Maybe I need to learn from him," he said.

Pepper smiled. "Maybe you do," she agreed, and went to join the crowd at the bar.

* * *

"Ah so you know each other, huh Agent Barton?"

Will saw Pepper's eyes narrow, but wisely, she didn't say anything. "Are you okay?" Will asked Pepper.

She nodded. Then she shook her head. "What's going on?" she asked, directing her question to the guy in the suit. "What do you want, Justin?"

And suddenly Will knew who the orange-tinted loser was.

Stark's so-called competition. Justin Hammer, the CEO of Hammer Industries. _I thought he was in prison…_

He saw Justin's eyes narrow, and he retracted his previous statement. In half a second, Justin Hammer had gone from the worst criminal mastermind Will could think of to the most terrifying person he'd ever seen.

At least Kurt Hendricks had looked semi-sane when they'd seen him in Mumbai.

Hammer had gone from goofy to just… _gone_.

"What do I _want_?" he asked, yelling the last word. Pepper flinched, and Will inched protectively closer toward her. Dumber shot him a warning glare, but Will ignored him.

"Do you _know_ how long I was in prison?" he demanded of Pepper. "How many showers I took with other men? How much embarrassment I dealt with?"

"Not enough," Pepper spat, and Will applauded her courage.

Justin stepped forward. Pepper had about three inches on him, but that didn't stop him from reaching up and slapping her across the face.

" _Hey!"_ Will barked. What he got for his efforts was a backhand from Dumber that sent him sprawling back.

"Because of _you_ ," Justin spat at Pepper. "Because of your _girlfriend_ -" he hissed at Will. "My life is _ruined_! My life is _hell!"_ He shook his head as he started to pace. He was coming unglued. Fast. "But there was one good thing about prison, _Virginia_ ," he said, turning to Pepper again. "I had time to think. Time to plan. I have no company. I have no clients. I have _nothing_! Because of Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff, I am _nothing_!" He glared at both of them, then hauled Will to his feet. "But funny thing," he said. "Imagine if Stark would go under. Imagine if the great Tony Stark disappeared off the face of the earth."

Pepper paled. Will frowned. "He took everything from me!" Justin said. "So I'm gonna return the favor," he said, looking at Pepper. "Tony Stark ruined my life. That redheaded _bitch_ ruined my life."

He looked at them, and suddenly, he was completely calm. And Will didn't like the change.

* * *

_New York City_

"Ethan Hunt?" Clint tucked his helmet under his arm and put the kickstand down on his motorcycle. Three familiar faces had just stepped out of a black Lincoln towncar.

"Agent Barton." Ethan replied. "What the hell is going on?"

"I was hoping you'd be able to tell me," Clint replied. Natasha stepped up beside him. Snow was starting to fall. "Let's get inside." The IMF team followed Clint and Natasha through the doors and into the elevator. Clint pressed the button for the top floor.

"Have you heard from Will at all in the past two days?" Clint asked Ethan.

Ethan shook his head. "No," he replied. "None of us has. What about you?"

"He called on his layover from Denver." Clint's voice was quiet. "He didn't sound good."

"What'd he say?" Jane asked. Natasha caught the concern in her voice.

"That he was almost home, and wanted to know if Mom and Dad were at the house," Clint said. It had been a short conversation. Not really a conversation. He'd responded with a short, 'Yes' and then Will had hung up. Whether he was still mad at his brother or just that tired, he hadn't known.

The elevator dinged and the group stepped into the main foyer of Stark's living room. Tony was at the bar, on the phone. Bruce was sitting down, a glass of scotch in front of him. "Hi again," Bruce said to Ethan and Jane. They both nodded a hello, but Benji wasn't paying attention. Their tech was enamored with Tony Stark and to be back in his home was a major distraction.

"Benji," Ethan said after a moment.

Benji turned. "What?" He glanced around. Bruce, Ethan, Jane and the two assassins were staring at him. "Sorry," he apologized.

"Call me when you get this, or I assume that I'm still paying for my 12% remark," everyone heard Tony say. There was a note of urgency in his voice as he hung up.

"No answer?" Bruce asked, and Tony shook his head.

"No. But then there's probably something CEO-like happening and I probably called during a shareholder meeting or something," Tony replied, making an effort to shrug it off.

Clint and Natasha knew him his little outer space joyride, Tony and Pepper Potts remained in close contact when they weren't in the same four walls. Pepper was out in California at some Stark Industries stockholder event. Apparently, she wasn't answering her phone. Tony Stark was worried. But they knew better than to call him on it.

"Welcome back," Tony said, noticing the IMF team. He nodded to Benji. "Hey, Benji," he said.

Benji practically glowed.

"Let's go over what we know," Clint said, directing the conversation back to business.

"Sorry I'm late!" a new voice interrupted before they could begin. Steve Rogers came up from the back stairs. He ran a hand through his hair. "Debrief took longer than I…" he glanced around, noting the new arrivals. His eyes paused on Jane. "Hello again," he said.

"Hi," Jane replied, looking at the super soldier. She hadn't seen him since she'd shot an alien about to kick his ass during the Battle of Manhattan.

Before Tony could say something snarky, Ethan spoke up. "Good to see you again, Captain," he said. "We were just discussing the current situation with my agent."

"I'm sorry to hear he's MIA," Steve replied seriously. "Whatever we can do to help, let us know. He was a huge help in Manhattan, so however we can repay your team-" he glanced at Jane- "we'll help."

"Thanks," Jane replied for the team, and Ethan and Benji nodded.

"What was the last contact we had from Will?" Bruce asked, attempting, once again, to get the conversation back on track.

"I talked to him on his layover last night," Clint said. He poured himself a drink from Tony's large stash. "His flight left Denver at 9-something."

"You and I got back to DC late yesterday night," Natasha said. "Unfortunately that gives us almost a full day with no contact and no timeline."

"What was the state of the house when you got home?" Jane asked.

"Obvious signs of a break-in," Natasha reported.

"Small amount of blood," Clint added, and his pulse raced just thinking about it. "Not sure if it was Will's or his attacker."

"So we have nothing," Benji cut in. Everyone looked at him. "What?" he defended himself. "Seriously. Based on what I've heard, we've got zilch. I mean, we don't even know if he's on this coast or the other, or even in the country!"

"Thanks, Benji," Ethan muttered under his breath. The tech shrugged.

Steve eyed Tony, who had been unusually quiet. "Okay, Stark," he said finally. Tony's eyes met his. "What's with you?"

"What're you talking about, Capsicle?" Tony shot back.

"You haven't said six words in the past ten minutes," Steve shot back. "What's going on?"

Before Tony could fire back a snide remark, a mechanical voice interrupted the conversation. _"Excuse me, sir, but you have a telephone call_ ," JARVIS announced.

"Busy at the moment, J, take a message," Tony replied.

" _Sir, it's Miss Potts_ ," JARVIS added.

Tony snatched up the phone. "Pepper?" he demanded.

" _Hi Anthony."_

Clint felt Natasha tense. "There's only one person in this world stupid enough to call him Anthony," she hissed under her breath. Clint saw her snap her fingers at Tony as he motioned for everyone to shut up. Tony used a panel near the bar to throw the call on speaker.

"Hammeroid?" he asked. Natasha glared at him with a warning glance to _not_ do something stupid. "I'm touched you used your one phone call to call me," he said. Clint knew that Tony dealt with impossible situations the same way the Brandt brothers did-with sarcasm. "Where's Pepper?" Tony demanded, all business.

" _Oh, she's here. Tell me, is Agent Natasha Romanoff there with you?"_

Bruce and Steve exchanged glances.

"Who?" Tony asked, playing dumb. "Lots of women have been through here, but that one doesn't ring a bell."

" _Don't_ play _with me, Tony_!" Justin's voice rose to a crescendo, and on the word 'play', even Jane, Ethan and Benji tensed. " _You think I'm_ stupid?"

"Thought crossed my mind," Tony baited him.

" _Shut up!_ "

Bruce put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Take it down a notch, Tony," Bruce muttered. It was hard to take his own advice. The Other Guy was chomping at the bit. He didn't like the sound of the voice on the phone, it reminded him too much of General Ross.

" _One of the great things about prison, Tony, I had a_ lot _of time to sit on my ass and dig into your life,"_ Justin continued. His voice had returned to a semblance of calm. Steve didn't like the change. Calm one moment and psychotic the next was _never_ a good thing.

"Who is this guy?" Ethan wondered.

"Remember the big blowup at the Stark Expo?" Benji muttered to his team leader. Ethan nodded. "That was Hammer."

"Who is this guy?" Steve asked. Benji gave him the basics that had been on the news. Steve had been in a block of ice at the time.

" _All eyes were on Manhattan seven months ago, and there were eyes_ everywhere _,"_ Justin was saying. _"You, of course, as usual were front and center. I don't know who's on your little team of Boy Scouts, but everyone knows the great Anthony Stark. So of course, you're all over. I kept hoping one of those aliens would take out your thrusters, save me the trouble, but they couldn't do the job._ "

"So much for advanced life in outer space," Tony shot back. "I heard they toured Hammer Industries, turned around and went home. No intelligent life found."

This elicited a laugh from Hammer that almost sounded genuine. _"You're cute, Anthony. But I'm more intelligent than you think. Don't think I don't remember how your secretary and her redheaded bodyguard made an idiot out of me at the Expo."_

Jane glanced at Natasha. The redhead was listening intently to the call. The mention of her name had raised her eyebrows, but the assassin's face was blank.

" _And then I saw something interesting. It was hard to make out, but I saw it. She was there. In Manhattan. Turns out there's plenty of conspiracy theorists out there. She belongs to SHIELD. And she's got a partner. You don't see 'em much, but every time there's a shot of her, there he was."_

Ethan and Clint both glanced up sharply at Natasha and Tony. The pieces had clicked. _Shit..._ Clint thought. _Hammer thinks Will is me!_

"I'm getting sick of your bullshit, Hammer," Tony ground out. "You called me from Pepper's phone. Where the _fuck_ is she?"

"She's here. Along with Agent Romanoff's boyfriend. They can't come to the phone at the moment."

"Will." Clint made a move for the phone, but Natasha shoved him backwards. She put one finger in the air. _Wait_.

"Fine, let's get down to it. What do you want from me, Hammer?" Tony asked.

" _What I've always wanted from you, Anthony_ ," Justin replied. The use of his full name was rankling Tony, and Steve put a steady hand on Tony's arm. Tony glared at him.

"Tanning tips?" he growled into the phone.

" _Tell you what, Tony, why don't you come out to Malibu? You and Agent Romanoff. We'll discuss the terms and conditions in person. You're a businessman, I'm sure we can work something out."_

Malibu. Tony slammed a hand down on the bar. _"_ You son of a _bitch_ , you're in my house!"

" _Good_ ," Hammer sounded pleased. " _Means you know how to find the place_." There was a click, and the line went dead.


	7. Chapter 7

_Baltimore, Maryland_

" _Mom's gonna kill us," Will said worriedly._

" _Get over it, man, we're eighteen." Clint said, his voice masking the nerves in his shaking hands. "We can do what we want to do after high school."_

" _Yeah but…" Will sighed, staring up at the ceiling. "Think about it for a second. This is Mom we're talking about, okay. The same mom that's been to every single one of your science meets. Every single basketball game. Every single Little League game. The woman that took two days off of work and drove twenty-five hours so she could make our baseball tournament. She's been involved in our lives for eighteen years, Clint." He leaned back on his bed, tossing the baseball back and forth. "And now you're off to join the Marine Corps, and they'll send you off to God knows where in the world. And I'm off to go be a spy, where every other word out of my mouth has to be 'classified.'" He rolled over and looked down at his brother. "Dad's been a cop for twenty years," he said. "She gets enough of that crap when he goes off to work every morning, and now we're doing it to her too."_

" _And that's exactly why Mom will be fine," Clint replied. "Mom's tough. She's one of the toughest women I know. She could be President, man. She's been strong enough to deal with Dad going off on a daily basis and never knowing if he's coming back every night. She's been strong enough to be there for us when he couldn't be. So she's going to be strong enough to hold down the fort at home while her boys are off savin' the world."_

_Will processed that. "You're right."_

" _Of course I am. I'm the older brother. I got all the genius."_

_Will dropped the baseball, landing it smack on his brother's ribcage. "Ow, damn you." Clint replied, tossing it back up to him, narrowly missing his brother's nose, which had popped over the side of the bed._

" _I've been thinking-"_

" _Oh hell, that's never good."_

" _Shut up for a second. I've been thinking." Will rolled off his bed and joined his brother on his bunk. "Look, we've always been pretty close, you know? And like, I always knew that one day we'd go our separate ways, and I'm totally okay with that, 'cause I mean, we've been sharing a room from for eighteen years and I don't necessarily want you cramping my style in college."_

 _Clint snorted. "_ I _cramp_ your _style?"_

" _Oh, and I'm really tired of being known as 'The Amazing Hawkeye's Little Brother.' Will added. His brother scowled. "_ _What I mean is…." Will sighed. "There's no way to say this without sounding like a chick flick. Both of us know how hard it is for Dad not to be able to tell Mom everything that goes down everyday, right? And you're gonna go be a Marine, and I'm gonna go be a spy and…" He looked at Clint. His brother seemed to realize his brother wanted this to be a serious moment, so Clint sat up so he was facing him. "If it ever gets to be too much, if it ever gets too insane out there, I want you to know that you can call me. Anytime. Anywhere." He grinned. "Call it, 'declassifying'."_

" _You're right," Clint said. Will looked at him. "There wasn't any way to make that_ not _sound like a chick flick." His brother smiled. "But yeah. I like this plan. You may be my annoying little brother, but you're the only brother I got."_

* * *

Tony Stark threw his Stark phone across the room. It slammed into the stone around the fireplace and shattered into several pieces. From the bar, Bruce Banner stood up and cautiously approached his friend, keeping the Hulk calm. "Tony, I'm sure-"

"No, Banner," Tony cut him off. "Don't you _dare_ tell me that everything is fine." He ran a hand through his already spiked hair and slammed it down on the windows.

"You're right," Clint said. Tony and Bruce looked up. The archer had his fists clenched, struggling to keep his cool. "Something is _very_ wrong and you and Nat are right in the middle of it."

Tony began pacing. "Hammer is a moron. He couldn't find his ass with both hands and a GPS. What the hell is going on?" _How the hell did he get the drop on me?_ He'd already had JARVIS run an analysis. Systems were down at the Malibu house. Hammer had disabled them while leaving no trace. "Fuck. He's the only person in the world that I know that has the tech to take JARVIS completely offline."

Benji raised a hand. "Does someone want to explain to us what the hell is going on?"

"He thinks Will is me," Clint said. "He's using Will as bait to get Natasha, because he thinks Will is me."

"Colossal screw up as usual," Tony said. "And he's got Pepper because of me." Steve caught the slight crack in his voice at the end of the statement. Pepper meant the world to Tony. Iron Man had a heart.

"He took Will and Pepper and put them right under your nose to prove a point," Bruce said. He looked at his friend. "That he's smarter than you."

"He's _not_ smarter than me," Tony replied, his voice dangerously low. "Because _I_ am not stupid enough to piss off Iron Man and two assassins."

Next to Ethan, Jane was fighting to keep her composure. She glanced up to see Natasha eyeing her, and she met her gaze. The redheaded assassin had the same pained looked on her face earlier, when they realized that this was about Clint.

The two stared at each other for a moment as both their secrets set in. Then they looked away.

"What happens when he finds out that Will isn't Clint?" The question came from Ethan.

"He won't," Clint jumped in. "Hammer won't know that it's not me until it's too late." He looked around the room. "Will's accuracy is just as good as mine, the only difference is he does it with bullets instead of arrows. And if you put the two of us in a room together, the only difference in us is our preference of weapon." Well, there were a few other things, but only their mom and dad could tell them apart 100% of the time. Someone like Hammer, who probably got his information from grainy Youtube video, isn't going to know the difference. Will trained at the Farm." Off Steve's confused look, he clarified, "That's like Basic for spies." He looked at Tony. "You and Natasha are going in, and I'm coming along." He looked at his partner, and the two shared a look. "I've got your back," he told them.

"You sure about that?" Tony asked. Natasha glared at him, but it didn't faze the genius. "No, 'cause I wanna make sure that if I'm not going in there in the Mark VII that my backup isn't gonna freeze at the last second."

"Tony-" Steve cut in, but Tony glared him into silence.

"Let's face it, Legolas, you haven't exactly been on top of the game!"

Clint stepped up to Tony. Despite Tony having about four inches on him, the marksman met Tony's gaze straight on. "That's my little brother out there too, Tony. He got into this mess because of me and I will be _damned_ if I'm not the one to get him out." Clint's eyes met Tony's."You're right, Stark, I've been off my game lately."

"Clint-" Natasha started, but Clint held up a hand.

"No, it's okay, Tasha, someone had to say it." Clint looked at Bruce, and Steve, before returning his gaze to Tony. "I won't go into the sob story of how I've had to put up with people I used to consider colleagues whispering behind their backs 'There's the guy that almost blew us outta the sky' or 'there's the guy that Loki rode like a puppet all the way to the almost end of the world.'" He looked at his teammates. "I won't tell you that when I jumped off that wall in Manhattan and thought I'd broken my back that maybe I deserved it."

Bruce knew. It was like hearing the same story from Will. And when Clint met his eyes, he could tell that the good doctor probably knew more about Clint than even Clint did. _Damn you, little brother_. "When I joined SHIELD, I changed my name so that my family would never, _ever_ have to deal with this crazy-ass world that we live in. And it didn't matter. I couldn't keep Will safe."

He looked at Natasha. "I couldn't keep any of you safe. I almost killed you all. And I'll have to deal with that for the rest of my life."

"Clint-" This time the interruption tried to come from Steve, but Clint shook his head.

"I'm not done. Because right before you came to get us, Captain, in that crappy bathroom on the carrier, I was thinking something else. That it was going to take a lifetime to forgive myself, but every single arrow that came off my bow was going to be a promise. That I am in this team, come hell or high water, and I'm going to make up for what I did if it kills me. Every arrow is a promise I'm in this to win it."

And now he turned to Tony. "I'm not going to let you down, Tony. I know what Pepper means to you. I _swear_ to you that if I have to shoot, I won't miss."

He didn't get an answer. He and Tony were a lot alike. Instead, he got Tony to look him in the eye and give a slight nod. That was all he needed.

"We're coming too," Steve said, with a confirmation look at Bruce. "We'll stay out of sight-"

" _Especially_ me," Bruce cut in.

"-but we'll have your back if you need it." Steve looked at Clint. "Not that you will," he added. "I'm sure you'll have everything covered."

Clint shot the soldier a grateful look. Steve, who had accepted him with one nod before the Battle of Manhattan. Steve, who put him in the position of watching out for the entire team that day. He was standing up for him again. Clint was going to owe him big time. Again. Still. Always.

"We're in too," Jane said. Ethan and Benji both turned to look at her.

"Backing up the Avengers. This is _awesome_ ," Benji pronounced.

Tony looked around the room at Steve and Bruce, Clint and Natasha, and Ethan, Jane and Benji. "Everyone suit up and meet me on the helipad in five minutes. We've got a plane to catch, and I'm going to tell you how to break into my house."

* * *

Ethan Hunt found Jane sitting on the coffee table adding bullets to the clip of her sidearm. "Jane?" he asked. "You all right?"

"What do you think?" Jane snapped at him. She closed her eyes. _I lost Hanaway. I can't lose him too_.

"I think you're making decisions for this team that are _mine_ to make," Ethan offered.

"Your _decision_ put Will in this mess," Jane pointed out, snapping the clip into the stock. "If you hadn't sent him home, he wouldn't have been there alone."

"Jane, in case you forgot, you almost _died_!" Ethan replied.

"You're right," she agreed. "And Will wasn't on top of it in Honolulu. But rather than work it out _together_ , as a _team_ , you sent him home to deal with his problems _alone_." Her eyes met Ethan's. "When I screwed up in Dubai, you didn't send me home-"

"-That was different," Ethan cut in. "There wasn't a 'home' to go back to!"

"That's _not_ the point!" Jane stood up so fast she almost clocked Ethan under the chin. "Damn it, Ethan, we all knew Will wasn't doing well after Manhattan. He couldn't hide it from _anyone_. But instead of helping him through and supporting him, we ignored it and left him to deal with it alone!" She shook her head, and damned if she wasn't crying.

"We let him down, Ethan. We let him down, and now he's in the hands of some genius psycho, and I _can't_ … _we_ can't…" Her voice hitched.

"Hey," Ethan said. Suddenly her demeanor all made sense. He put a hand on her shoulder. "You're right." She looked at him. "We screwed up."

"Was that an admission of guilt from the great Ethan Hunt?" Jane asked.

"Don't get used to it," Ethan shrugged. He smiled, and the corner of Jane's mouth twitched. "First things first, we get him back. As a _team_. And then after that, we have his back." _Just like he's always had ours._

There was a cough, and Ethan and Jane both whirled. "Ah, if you guys are done," Benji said, "they're ready to go."

Jane looked at Ethan, deferring to their team leader. "Yeah Benj," Ethan said. "We're done."

"It's about time," Benji muttered as he left the room. "I wondered how long it would take the two of you to kiss and make up."


	8. Chapter 8

Will had heard the rumors. Jungle stripes, bamboo and tribal drums. Red velvet, Barry White, and a wine cellar. A mock-up of the Playboy mansion-complete with trampoline.

"Not what you expected?" Pepper couldn't help but ask, as she watched Will's face. The two had been not-so-nicely ushered into Tony's bedroom while Hammer made a phone call.

Will surveyed the oversized bed, the white and chrome décor and more of the floor to ceiling windows. "Not really, and yet somehow it's exactly what it should be," he replied. He stood in front of the big windows, watching the Pacific Ocean crash on the rocks below them. He flexed his wrist. His fingers were losing feeling again, which worried him. Hammer had snapped. Will needed to be on his game. Tony would murder him if something happened to Pepper. And Jane would murder him if he got killed. At some point Hammer was going to have to gloat to Tony and Natasha. Maybe that was the phone call he just had to make in private.

He looked at Pepper. "Are you okay?"

Pepper took a breath. "Not really," she admitted. "I seriously underestimated Hammer. We always thought he was a screw up…" She sighed. "And wow, did he prove us wrong."

"Pepper, tell me everything that happened at the Expo," Will prodded. _More information, better prepared_. What had General Hawk said in all the old GI Joe cartoons? _Knowing is half the battle_.

Pepper outlined the basics for him. "I just figured he'd be in prison forever," Pepper said. "But I suppose, with Justin's money, you can buy almost anything."

"Including the two mercs he hired as muscle," Will said. "That would explain why they're working for someone who uses more spray tan than half of Venice Beach."

Pepper glanced up at him. "So…." she asked hesitantly. "I don't suppose your brother happens to know where you are?"

Will shook his head. "No. Never got a chance to tell him before-" His voice trailed off, and Pepper looked at him sideways. "Before they got me," he finished lamely.

She waited. "Wi-Hawkeye," she covered, in case someone was listening. "I've heard enough bullshit from Tony trying to cover his ass," she said gently. "Did something happen between you and your brother?"

Will closed his eyes. "I had a conversation with him right before all this happened," he said quietly. "Except it wasn't really a conversation, it was more of a fight."

"About what?"

He snorted. "Hell I don't even remember anymore," he admitted. "I think I called him a masochist. And then I think he called me an asshole."

"Why?" Her eyes widened, and she bit her lip. "God, I'm so sorry. You don't have to say anything if you don't want." She smiled apologetically. "I forget I'm not talking to Tony."

"Things have been a little tense since New York," Will admitted. "Neither one of us has been dealing well. Both of us have been having problems that are affecting our jobs." He sighed, remembering the phone call. "We were both mad, and pissed at the circumstances. We sorta took them out on each other in a 40-minute walk from one end of the Denver airport to the other."

"I'm sorry," Pepper told him.

Will offered her a smile. "Don't be," he replied. "We're big boys. We knew what we were getting into. We made the rule that we'd always be honest with each other, and we're dealing with the fallout."

"Speaking of fallout…" Pepper began. "I don't suppose you have a plan…."

Will shrugged as he sat awkwardly on the bed next to Pepper. "Ah….make them think I'm Clint as long as possible," he said quietly. He looked at Pepper. "Keep Hammer 's spray-tanned paws off of you."

Pepper suppressed a shiver. "You don't think-"

"Not happening," Will promised. _Not again. Not on my watch. Not this time._

The door banged open. Will stood up and stepped in front of Pepper as Dumb and Dumber came into the room.

"Let's go," Dumb said.

"Wow, you _do_ speak," Will said. It earned him a fist to the jaw. "With your hands," he added, cracking his neck.

"Where are we going?" Pepper asked, and Will was proud of her for keeping her cool.

Neither man said anything as they pushed Will and Pepper out into the living room and around the corner. "Where _are_ we going?" Will asked Pepper.

Pepper frowned. "Tony's lab."

_Wouldn't Benji love that…._ Pepper stumbled as Dumber pushed her ahead of him. "Touch her again and I'll rip your brains out through your nose," Will told him, bringing a little bit of Clint to the table. Pepper looked at him in alarm. His jaw was set and his eyes flashed as he stared him down. "Dead serious," Will promised him.

"Come on now kids….play nice…." The voice of Justin Hammer met them at the bottom of the stairs. Will and Pepper stepped through the sliding glass door into Tony's lab. Will glanced around. Definitely the workspace of a genius. The crowning glory was seven Iron Man suits in various stages of paint and armory against the wall. On the opposite was a concrete ramp and several _seriously_ cool sports cars, all labeled STARK 1-4. The billionaire had an affinity for Audis. Next to two large worktables sat two robots. One had three grips that made it look like it was staring at Will when he stood next to it.

"I always wondered if I'd get to see Tony Stark's playroom," Justin mused. "I thought it would be….bigger."

"Compared to your 8x10 cell?" Will asked him.

Justin chuckled. "You're a regular laugh riot, Hawkeye." He hopped off one of the worktables and gestured to a point in the middle of the room. "Come on in," he said, pointing to the floor. "Have a seat."

Pepper carefully knelt down in the middle of the floor, but Will decided his brother would have sat down for no one. He stood next to Pepper, glaring at Justin.

"Still thinking you're gonna get to use that famous aim, Hawkeye?" Justin tsked. "It'll go better for your girlfriend if you do what I tell you to."

"Tasha knows eighteen ways to kill you with her mascara brush," Will shrugged, playing up his brother's cockiness and using Clint's pet name for his partner. "I'm not worried about you getting the drop on her."

Justin's smile faded, and he pushed a button on the control in his hand. He looked at Will and Pepper. "You should be."

Pepper heard a mechanical roar and looked up sharply. "Oh God."

* * *

Jet lag was catching up with him, but Clint refused to sleep. They touched down in California and were met by a limo at LAX, driven by Happy Hogan, Tony's personal security and friend. "Tony, I've been trying to reach Pepper on her phone, but it's going straight to voicemail," he was telling him.

Tony's voice was tight. "Thanks for trying. Malibu Point, and make it fast." He pointed to the open limo door. "Might as well ride in style, like the Lone Ranger, right?" he asked Clint.

"Which one of us is Tonto?" Clint shot back, sarcasm hiding his nerves as Natasha slipped into the car ahead of him.

"Not me," Bruce replied. He looked at Steve. "I should really hang back," he said.

"No, Doc, you're comin' with," Tony said. His voice almost sounded pleading. "You're no medical doc but if something happens…you're the closest we've got."

"Or we could just let Hammer bleed to death," Jane suggested, trying to take the edge off Tony's statement. She followed Benji into the limo.

Tony thought about that. "Good idea," he said, closing the door. "I'll meet you there," he said. Happy handed him a suitcase and Tony popped it open. "Stop below the hill outside the security camera range and drop those guys off." He stuck his arms in the lid and stretched them sideways, a new, sleeker version of the suitcase armor encasing his body as he stepped into the bottom of the case and the tech wrapped around him from bottom up. His visor dropped shut and the eye slits glowed. "Blaze the trail, buddy. See ya in a few."

Inside the limo, Clint was restless. He almost wished Tony would fly him to the Malibu house like he'd done in New York. Granted, he'd been sick afterward (going straight up was like getting ejected from a fighter jet with Tony), but it would get him there faster. He knew Happy was pushing the speed limit as fast as it could go. "What's your plan, Stark?" he muttered. Natasha rested a hand on his arm.

" _There's three entrances to the mansion_ ," Tony's voice announced. Steve jerked, and Benji was grinning from ear to ear. _"The front door. The deck. And the garage. The garage leads to the lab and it's the most defendable. If Hammer's gonna make a stand, he'll make it there."_ Clint could practically hear Tony's frown. _"I hate knowing everything_."

"What're we doing when we get there?" Natasha asked.

" _We're supposed to go in alone. So we will. I'll pick you up and drop you on the patio. Featherhead and Agent Carter, I've got JARVIS working on overriding himself-"_ There was hesitation in the inventor's voice- " _That sounds so wrong. Anyway, once he gets the security protocols back up, you guys will go through the garage. The door leads directly into the lab, you can come up from under him. Cap, Hammer's gonna have muscle. Show them yours is bigger."_

Steve replied, "No problem."

" _Benji, I'm going to give you full access to JARVIS. I'll be busy with Hammer, so you're gonna be the eyes and ears."_ The tech fairly glowed, and Ethan shot him a grin. _"Agent Hunt, you'll be with him, just in case Hammer's got more friends than I think he does_."

"I'll hang with Happy til the shooting's over," Bruce offered. "I don't think you'll need the Other Guy for this mission."

" _You sure Banner?"_

"Very," Bruce replied. "Besides, he gets cranky if there isn't anything for him to smash."

Happy rolled down the divider. "We're almost to our drop off points," he announced.

Natasha put a hand on Clint's shoulder, feeling him tense up. "He's fine," she whispered to him in Russian.

"I know," Clint replied in the same language. He glanced up and caught Benji, Ethan, and Jane watching them. He'd forgotten they'd worked in Moscow and probably had understood them. Ethan gave him a nod, letting him know that they had, and they agreed with Natasha.

" _Guys, one more thing,"_ Tony's voice said. _"Just because you can break into my house doesn't mean you're welcome anytime you want._ "

"No surprise parties, then," Steve muttered, and Benji laughed.

" _Like you would know how to throw a party_ ," Tony told him.


	9. Chapter 9

_Baltimore_

_James Madison Elementary School_

" _My name is Mr. Rook, and I'll be your teacher today. Miss Hargreaves has the flu. Let's start by taking attendance."_

_It didn't take the bespectacled teacher long to get to the B's. "Clinton Brandt?"_

" _Here," Will answered for his brother._

" _William Brandt?"_

" _Here," Clint replied._

_Mr. Rook looked up for a moment from the roster and his mouth dropped into a small O. "Wow," he said. "Identical twins huh? Crazy."_

_Will and Clint both shrugged identical shrugs. Wasn't the first time they'd heard that and it sure wouldn't be the last._

_Attendance ended without incident. Then Mr. Rook asked the class to open up their reading books. "Will someone please read paragraph one aloud?" He checked his attendance sheet. "Clinton?"_

" _Chapter One-" Clint began, glancing at his brother out of the corner of his eye._

" _Wait," Mr. Rook said. "Aren't you William?"_

_Clint shook his head. "No sir," he replied innocently. "I'm Clint."_

_He blinked. "Right. Sorry about that. Go ahead."_

_Clint finished the first paragraph with a straight face._

_Three more chapters passed as Gemma and Darrin both read one each and Katie read half of one, struggling over the words. "How about the next one?" Mr. Rook looked at Will. "William?"_

" _No sir," Will said, trying desperately not to smile. "I'm Clint."_

_The teacher frowned. "I thought-"_

" _Happens a lot, Mr. Rook," Clint replied. "It's okay. We don't mind."_

 _Halfway through the class the entire class was snickering as the two brothers switched names half the time, or kept them for some. Will was pretty sure he'd seen smoke billowing from the substitute's ears. Problem was, they had him so confused, he didn't have a clue who was_ actually _who._

* * *

The limousine rolled to a stop just down the highway from Tony's closest neighbor. "It's all walking from here," Happy announced over the intercom. "Good luck."

"That's your exit cue," Bruce told everyone. "We'll be here if you need us," he added, hoping desperately that they wouldn't-him _or_ the Other Guy.

"Tony, where do you need Benji?" Ethan asked.

" _I need him within two hundred feet of the house. There's a good vantage point up through the trees on the west side of the property,"_ Tony responded. "JARVIS, are we live yet?"

 _Almost, sir_ , the AI responded. _The suit is very nearly finished overriding Mr. Hammer's protocol._

"Soon as it's finished, open the garage access door," Tony said. _"Featherhead and Agent 99, that's your cue to be in position_."

"Feather Head?" Jane asked, glancing sideways at Clint.

"It could be worse," he replied. He held a hand out. "Ladies first," he said with a cocky grin. Jane had seen that one before. A pang of sadness hit her. _He better be okay_.

" _You ready, Romanoff?_ " Tony asked as he slowed to land next to her. Natasha locked eyes with Clint. He gave her an imperceptible nod.

"Just don't drop me, Stark," she said.

" _Don't be silly,"_ Tony said, grabbing a handful of the back of her uniform. " _Hammer wants you alive_." Without warning, he rocketed up. Clint heard nonstop colorful language in Russian. "Deep breaths, Tasha!" he called after her, knowing she could hear him.

He turned to Jane. "All right, let's get hoofing."

* * *

Steve Rogers decided the best approach was the direct one. Keeping low, he started making his way up the shrubs in the side of the driveway, watching for any perimeter action on the way.

* * *

"Well Benj, you're in the field," Ethan said as they scrambled up the hill on the west side of Tony's property. "Everything you thought it would be?"

"Are you kidding?" Benji panted. He smiled. "This is _awesome!_ "

* * *

Tony dropped Natasha at the patio entrance to the house. She absorbed the landing with her knees, and then doubled over. " _You and Barton are wusses_ ," Tony announced. " _At least you didn't throw up_."

"Bite me, Stark," Natasha hissed.

Tony looked inside. His blood boiled. Justin Hammer sat on a chair in the living room, casually flipping through a Wired magazine article on Stark Industries. Pepper was on the cover. _"So not only does that little asshole override JARVIS and kidnap my girlfriend, but he has the balls to just sit in my house like he owns the place_ …." Tony growled inside the suit.

"Careful Stark," Natasha replied quietly.

Tony muttered something unintelligible. Then, he put up one hand and tapped the glass.

Justin Hammer looked up. "Hey! Tony!" he said, as if he was greeting an old friend. He made the 'come on in' gesture, with his hand, and returned to his paper.

" _Bastard_ ," Tony growled. He gave serious thought to using his repulsors to open the door, then had a better idea. He stepped up to the patio door, gripped the handle, and pulled. The door ripped off its hinges. Hammer had the sense to jump.

Natasha smirked.

" _How we coming on security, J,"_ Tony asked JARVIS.

 _Nearly there sir_ , the AI replied.

" _Benji, copy that. We're going in_."

* * *

"This must be it." Clint pointed at a recess in the rocks at the top of the road. "Stark, we found your access panel. Open the door."

" _Five minutes_ ," Tony replied in his comm.

"I hate waiting," Clint growled. He reached over his shoulder and pulled his bow from its bolt on his quiver. One shake of his arm and it extended to full length.

"Even in close quarters, you use that instead of a gun or something?" Jane couldn't help but ask.

Clint shrugged. "Just feels more natural. I handle it pretty well in tight spaces," he added, thinking of the helicarrier. _The look on Tasha's face_ ….He blinked once and shook his head. _Stay here, Clint. Stay in this moment, not that one._

"Does Will shoot as good as you?" Jane asked him.

He opened his mouth to offer a smart comment, then thought better. "Not quite," he replied. "But close. He and I started shooting at the same age. I just did it more."

"He told us you went to the range with your dad a lot as kids," Jane offered.

"Yeah, anytime Dad had nights," Clint replied. "Mom hated it, but that was family bonding time for us." He grinned. "Dad still shows us off to his squad guys every now and then."

"When Will showed off his skills in Dubai, we couldn't believe it," Jane remembered. "I've never seen anyone take Ethan down that fast." She nodded to him. "I can see where he gets it."

Clint sighed. "That's Will," he said.

"Do you know you do that?" Jane asked him quietly.

"Do what?" Clint asked, instantly on edge.

Jane looked at him apologetically. "Anytime I've mentioned Will being better than you at something, you tense up," she told him.

Clint frowned. "I do?"

She nodded. "It's almost like….like you're jealous of him."

This time, instead of tensing up, Clint paled. _Damn it._ Leave it to Will's partner to be so damn perceptive. He ignored the comment and waited for the signal to go in. _This moment, Clint. Stay in this moment_.

* * *

 _I've managed to regain control of the mansion security systems_ , JARVIS reported to Tony.

" _You hear that, Benji?"_ Tony asked. _"Unlock the doors._ "

From his spot on the hill, as Ethan covered him, Benji punched in the security code for Stark's mansion and waited. "C'mon….c'mon…. _yes!_ " he cheered as the screen lit up green. "Everyone, we're in!"

* * *

Steve caught the first sign of security about halfway up the drive. A big guy in black, sporting a black t-shirt and blue jeans. "There's trouble," he muttered quietly.

" _Handle it_ ," Clint replied in his ear. Steve nodded. He moved around the guy and came at him from the side. The serum gave him a little boost of speed, and the guy never saw it when Steve got up behind him and caught him in a choke hold. It didn't take long for him to collapse, and Steve shrugged him off with little effort. "That's one," he announced. _And who knows how many more to go._

* * *

Seven months ago in Manhattan, Will Brandt had come face to face with the superhero known as Iron Man. The eye slits glowing blue, the rockets on the shoulders, the hand mounted repulsors. It was a feat of technology as much as it was hellishly intimidating. But then the face mask had popped up and he'd been introduced to Tony Stark, a man with a quick wit and a take no prisoners attitude. The man behind the suit somehow made it a little less terrifying.

He wished he felt that way now.

Will Brandt was staring into the eyes of _four_ Iron Man suits. But the eyes looked empty, the armor cold and calculating. Because he knew Tony wasn't in them. Nor was he in control of them.

Anytime he took a breath, or looked at Pepper, the suits followed him, each one with a repulsor up and aimed at him and Pepper.

"Don't move," Will told Pepper again. "They're locked onto us. Anything they perceive as a threat, and Hammer just might have them shoot us."

He heard the sound of metal and glass breaking from upstairs. _That better be the cavalry_ , he thought to himself. _Let's just hope that Hammer doesn't have an itchy trigger finger. Or that someone sets these guys off accidentally..._

* * *

Bruce could feel it. The tugging in his chest that meant the Hulk wanted to come out and play. He shoved the Other Guy back, reminding him that there wasn't anything to smash at the moment, and that he needed to stay Bruce just in case something happened and they needed a doctor. Which he wasn't. But he was the best they had.

And then in his ear, several things happened.

He heard Steve curse a four letter blue streak-words he _had_ to have learned from Tony and/or Clint. Then he heard the sounds of a struggle.

He heard Clint say, "Holy shit."

And then he heard the unmistakable sound of a repulsor blast, followed by the sound of concrete and glass exploding, and then a cloud of smoke.

He looked at Happy. "Gimme the keys."

"What?" Tony's best friend and body guard was too distracted by the explosion. Bruce ran around the side of the car, vaulting over the hood _Dukes of Hazzard_ style, and climbed into the driver's seat.

He hit the gas and screamed up the driveway.


	10. Chapter 10

_Five minutes earlier…_

"Well, this is gonna piss Tony off," Clint said as he and Jane peered around the corner of the garage entrance into the lab. "Hammer's playing with his toys. Damn it. Will and Pepper…" It wasn't pretty. The suits looked like they were locked on.

"Will…." Jane trailed off, staring at the scene.

Will and Pepper were standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by four of Tony's Iron Man suits. At least, Jane assumed they were suits and not Tony himself. All four of them primed and ready to fire on anything that moved. "Benj," Clint whispered into his comm. He gave him a quick rundown of what he was seeing. "Can we have JARVIS hack the suits?"

" _I'm sorry, did you just say you want me to hack into an Iron Man suit?"_ Benji's confused voice replied.

" _Do it_ ," they heard Tony say. " _JARVIS, put 'em to sleep_."

* * *

Tony watched from the inside of his armor as one of Hammer's hired goons patted Natasha down and found two guns and a knife _somewhere_ on her person. "Where the hell were you keeping those?" he asked her over the comm.

She shot him a glare that spoke her response.

"Where's Pepper?" Tony asked, and for the first time, Natasha heard an undercurrent of worry in his voice.

"Hey, Tony. This is quite the place you've got," Hammer said, purposely ignoring the billionaire. "Too much white though, makes it hard to get stuff out of the carpet."

Natasha glanced down, saw blood. _Will or Pepper_? she wondered.

"I'm only gonna ask you one more time," Tony told Hammer. "Where the _fuck_ is Pepper?"

"Easy there, Tiger," Hammer said. "First things first, take off the suit. We'll talk."

Tony aimed a repulsor at him in response. "What's to stop me from blowing you halfway to Hawaii?" Tony asked.

Then he saw it. A small black remote in Hammer's hand. "JARVIS, what is that?" Tony asked his AI over the comm.

 _A primitive remote control, sir,_ JARVIS replied.

"To _what_?"

 _You won't like that answer,_ JARVIS cautioned.

Tony's faceplate flipped up. "I'm only going to ask you once more before I blow that remote and your hand to hell," he told Hammer. "Where is she?"

Hammer shook the black fob. "Blow up the hand, blow up your girlfriend, the house, and half the cliff. For a smart guy, Anthony, that's not the best idea I've heard from you." His eyes narrowed. "Lose the suit."

"You'd blow yourself away?" Tony asked.

Natasha could see it in his eyes. "He would, Tony," she told him out loud. "He's got nothing to lose anymore. No company, no contracts….just him."

Justin pointed with the remote. "Now her I like."

"Stark," Natasha muttered. "Just do it." She felt a pair of cold metal handcuffs lock around her wrists, and gave a classic, patented Black Widow icy stare to the goon holding her hands. He paled, and she smirked.

There was a Mexican standoff between Tony and Hammer for a moment or two. Then, Tony told JARVIS to disassemble the suit. The suit folded up into a small square, leaving Tony in a black longsleeved shirt and jeans. The arc reactor glowed faintly under the shirt.

"Much better, Hammer pronounced. Then he gestured toward the stairs. "Now, if you'd both follow me?"

Tony let Natasha go first and stepped in behind her, purposely shielding her from Hammer's hired thug. He could already see her working the handcuffs, trying to loosen them.

* * *

Ethan caught movement across the driveway from where he and Benji were huddled in some shrubs. "Hey Steve," Ethan told him over the comm, "you've got two headed your way."

"Where?" Steve asked back. Ethan saw the captain tense. "Right on your six and five," Ethan replied. "Benji, how're you coming on hacking those suits?"

"It's amazing what you can do with a sentient computer on your side," the tech muttered furiously. "I need ten seconds."

Just then, Ethan caught two more guys come from inside the house somewhere on Steve's position. "Steve, you've got two more- _shit_." Ethan stood. "Benj, stay here and keep hacking."

"Where're you going?" Benji demanded, looking up from his laptop.

Ethan gave him a pointed look. " _Hack_ ," he said, and Benji ducked his head back toward the screen. Ethan took off and came flying across the driveway, grabbing one of Steve's almost attackers by the shirt and throwing him sideways.

* * *

"Come on Benji," Jane muttered.

"We aren't gonna get time…and there's Stark," Clint muttered, seeing Tasha and Tony coming down the stairs. Clint threw himself flush against the wall.

"Pepper?" he heard Tony ask. "You okay?"

"Sure," he heard her reply. "Why wouldn't I be, I'm just being held at gunpoint by an Iron Man suit."

"That's my girl," Tony replied. Clint stuck his nose out so he could see what was going on. Across the room, Will caught his eye over the shoulder of one of the suits, and Clint saw his shoulders half sag in relief.

He turned to Jane. "We need a distraction," he said. "How good's your aim?"

She frowned. "Why?"

Clint glanced around the corner again and locked eyes with his brother. Will gave him an imperceptible nod. Then Clint turned to Jane. "When I say, I need a perfectly executed shot at the light above that circle."

"Perfectly executed," Jane said, rolling her eyes even as she raised her gun. "Says the mighty Hawkeye."

"No pressure," Clint replied. He looked at his brother and saw Will reach slowly for Pepper's hand. "Count of three. One….two…"

Jane squinted, aiming for the bulb.

_Three._

A shot rang out, Will yanked Pepper to the ground, and the lab went dark.

Clint heard the sound of an arc reactor power up, and a blast of blue. "Holy shit!" Clint couldn't help it as he yelled into the comm unit.

* * *

Upstairs, Steve sent one of his and Ethan's attackers through Tony's kitchen window, shattering the entire floor to ceiling pane of glass.

Five seconds later, he heard the unmistakable sound of a car engine revving toward them. He looked over at Ethan, who was bringing a guy down to the ground in a choke hold. "What the-"

"Banner," Steve replied. He saw the limo a split second later. "Move!"

He dove to one side, Ethan dove to the other, as the car came roaring past where they'd just been standing and slammed into the house's wall.

Steve was the first to recover. He got to his feet, brushing glass off his jeans and reached for the limo door. _I hope it's Banner at the wheel and not his big green friend_. Steve tore the door off is hinges. Bruce was hugging the wheel, an airbag deployed. "Dr. Banner?" Steve demanded. "Are you okay?"

Bruce turned his head sideways. "Did I get one?" he asked, wincing in pain. Steve caught a flash of green in his eyes. "Stay with me Doc," Steve said.

Bruce closed his eyes and breathed deep. A moment later, he looked up at Captain America. "I'm good. I- _we're_ good."

Steve glanced over at Ethan, who wasn't moving. "Good," he replied. "Come on Doc, we need you out here."

"This is what happens when I have to stay in the car," Bruce muttered as he gingerly climbed out of the driver's seat.

* * *

The repulsor blast seared the top of Will's head as he yanked Pepper to the ground. As the lights went out, he grabbed her and they both scrambled for the wall. He threw her against the wall and threw his hands over her, moving his body between her and the suits.

"JARVIS!" he heard Tony yell. "Tell me you're in here!"

 _Online, sir_ , JARVIS replied.

" _Did you really think I wasn't good for it_?" Benji allowed himself a moment of pride over the comm line. Tony grinned. "Not bad for a rookie," he replied. "Goddamn it, Hawkeye, what the hell where you aiming for?"

Clint stuck his head out, arrow drawn. "Wasn't me, Stark, it was all her," he replied, jerking his head back at Jane. "You needed the distraction."

"I hit what I was aiming for," Jane replied tightly, her gun in front of her.

"We had it under control, right Romanoff?" Tony asked, turning to her. Clint saw Tasha on the floor, one knee in Hammer's back, hand on the trigger. The goon that had brought up the rear was lying on the stairs with a broken neck, courtesy of Natasha's patented move.

"Just another patented Stark plan," she said. "Can I let go of this thing now?"

"Benji?" Clint asked.

" _The suits are off_ ," Benji replied. " _All that trigger is now is a fancy garage opener_."

Tasha threw it to the side. Then she looked at Stark and Clint.

"What the hell are you two waiting for?" She shoved Hammer's face into the concrete and the ex-con billionaire groaned. She nodded to the far wall. "Men," she muttered, and Jane grinned.

Clint was across the floor in two strides. "Will!"

Will glanced up. "Hi," he said. "Missed a helluva party." Clint saw a black eye and bruises on his brother's arms.

"Yeah," Clint said. "Looks like you had a hell of a time though."

Will nodded. "Good to see you," he said.

"Likewise, little brother," Clint replied. "You should let Pepper up so Tony can have his moment."

Will looked down at Pepper, who was still wrapped tightly in his arms. "Oh. Sorry," he said, and let go.

"Good move," Tony said. "I'm the jealous type." He helped Pepper up and looked at her. "Here I've been worried sick about you and you've been with another man?"

Pepper shrugged, tears in her eyes. "He's just been keeping me company," she replied, with a grateful glance at Will. He nodded to her, and that was all it took. Pepper buried herself in Tony's arms.

"Are you crying, Stark?" Clint asked.

"Shut up, Feather Head," Tony shot back.

* * *

Will glanced up and saw Jane hanging back from the reunion. He walked over to her. "Hey," he said. "Nice shot."

She nodded and put the safety of her gun on. "I wasn't going to miss," she replied.

"I'm so sorry," Will told her, catching the meaning behind the statement. He put a hand on her arm. "Thank you, Jane, for having my back."

She bit her lip. "Just returning the favor," she replied.

Impulsively, Will leaned over and kissed her, pulling her hand to rest at the small of his back. He'd been worried that it was going to be weird but strangely...it didn't seem as weird as he thought it would be. And it didn't seem like Jane was minding it at all.

* * *

Clint joined Tasha with Hammer and looked over at his brother. "About damn time," he said.

"Says the king of slow moves," Tasha replied, hauling Hammer to his feet. "By the way, Hammer," she said, turning the smaller man to face Clint, "speaking of slow, I'd like you to meet my partner, Hawkeye."

The light dawned in Hammer's eyes at the realization. "That's right, you asshole," Clint told him. "You took the wrong brother. And someone's gonna pay for that black eye of his…" He held up the arrow in his hand and tapped Hammer twice in the chest with it.

Hammer turned white, and Clint grinned. '"You made the biggest mistake of your life, buddy," he said. "See, you piss off one Avenger, you piss us all off and we chase you to hell." Then he stood nose to nose with him. "And _nobody_ hurts my family and gets away with it," he hissed at him.


	11. Chapter 11

_Baltimore_

" _This is all your fault!" Laura Brandt was yelling._

" _How, Laura?" Donald Brandt shot back. "Did I call up the recruiters personally? Did I ace those tests for Will?"_

_Will and Clint lay in bed, listening to the fight. "I hate this," Will said, leaning over the side of his bunk. "It's not Dad's fault…why's she saying it's his fault?"_

"' _Cause of all that time at the shooting range," Clint replied, tossing a baseball into the air below him. "Cause of all those times he showed us off to the guys at the precinct. 'Cause she needs someone to blame and she can't blame us…." His voice trailed off._

" _I knew this's exactly what was gonna happen," Will said. "We shoulda just lied, man. Told her we were gonna go be like, mall cops or something."_

" _That woulda made her feel worse," Clint pointed out. "She's been telling us all our lives that we're gonna do big things."_

" _Guess this is_ too _big," Will said quietly._

" _Nah, man," Clint said, sitting up and poking his head out to look at his brother. "We were born for this."_

* * *

New York City

It had been three days since the Malibu incident. After the dust had settled, Justin Hammer was put back in prison, some maximum security place in upstate New York that he'd never get out of. The place was reserved for the craziest of crazy psychopaths, or as Benji'd put it, "All of Hammer's rowdy friends."

Ethan was nursing a broken wrist from his roll into a fountain in Tony's front courtyard. Bruce had set it the best he could, but suggested that the IMF leader go to a real doctor because, "I'm not really that kind of doctor." Steve had hauled the three enforcers of Justin's into the garage himself, where Jane and Benji happily had held them at gunpoint until the Malibu police had shown up.

Tony had taken one look at the Malibu mansion and proclaimed that it was going to need 'a little fixing up.' He'd promptly called his contractor, and then called Happy to find another limo to take them back to New York.

"You're not staying to see the renovations?" Pepper asked, as if she couldn't believe that the industrialist didn't want to tear the place apart himself and put it back together.

"Nope, they got this," Tony said. "The only request I'm making is no white carpet." He'd turned to everyone. "We're going back to New York. We're going back to the tower. And then we're going to have the party to end all parties." He looked at Pepper. "That OK with you, boss lady?"

She'd agreed so fast Tony thought he'd missed it.

That was how Will Brandt found himself once again in Tony Stark's living room, watching the snow fall on the city, a glass of tequila in one hand. The other hand was holding Jane's. "At some point, we're going to have to figure out how this-" he shook her hand- "is going to work."

"If you even _think_ about suggesting that I stay home with the kids…" Jane threatened him.

"Kids?" Will sputtered. "Jesus, Jane."

Her brown eyes laughed at him. "Sue me if I want to take things a little faster than, you know, glacial speed," she said. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for this?"

"How long?" he asked, challenging her.

"The night you and Ethan jumped on that train car," she replied.

His eyes widened. "That was the first time I'd ever seen you-in person, anyway." Her file'd come across his desk in the whole Hanaway thing.

"Well," Jane shrugged. "When you know, you know, right?"

"You know…." Will agreed, and then he frowned. "Jane, I might not be…you know…completely _okay_ now." He shrugged. "I'm still having nightmares."

"So we'll work through them together," she said. "You don't have to be afraid to ask for help," she told him. "We're all here for you." Then she smiled mischievously. "Besides, if you have another relapse, I have Captain America as a fallback guy."

His eyes widened. "Oh yeah? Can Cap do this to you?" He brushed her hair back and kissed her full on the lips. She kissed him back and it made him almost as dizzy as the tequila.

"Definitely not," she breathed when they came up for air.

Will had spotted something over her shoulder. He looked down at her. "Hold that thought," he said. "I'll be right back."

She watched him head for the door, confused. Then she saw what was outside on the balcony.

Jane smiled as she went to go find Natasha.

* * *

It was cold, but not quite as cold as Will had expected it to be for New York in December. He rolled the sleeves of his shirt down as he joined his brother on the stairs. "Hey," he said cautiously. Both of them had learned that sudden movements and voices out of nowhere were not helping their recoveries.

Clint took a second before he turned. "Hey," he replied back. Will sat down next to him. "Freakin' cold out," he said.

Clint shook the bottle in his hand. "Can't feel it," he said.

"Declassify that statement," Will said.

His brother paused. "I have been trying to figure out for three days how to apologize to you," he said finally.

Will frowned. "Apologize?" he repeated. "For what?"

"Will, when I joined SHIELD, I changed my name so that stuff like this wouldn't happen. So I wouldn't put you, or Mom, or Dad, in any sort of danger." He chuckled grimly. "That turned out well."

Will said, "Justin Hammer was a moron, which is about 90 percent of the reason we ended up in this mess at all. Though, how he could mistake me for _you_ is still beyond my comprehension. _Clearly_ I'm better looking."

Clint snorted, and Will smiled. "The point is, we were made to get into trouble, Clint," he said, turning serious. "So this was bound to happen sooner or later. We knew the risks going in."

Clint listened to the sounds of traffic below them. Inside he heard Natasha laughing at something Bruce said. If he'd turned around, he could've told you what the joke was. "You know, Jane mentioned something to me when we were in Tony's garage…."

"She did, huh?" Will replied.

He nodded. He poked Will's chest with one finger. "You're the reason I am the way I am."

Will frowned. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

Clint sighed. "That came out wrong." He rolled his eyes. _And this is why I do better from a distance_. "What I meant was…." He tapped the SHIELD emblem on his hooded sweatshirt. "You're the reason I'm _this_ way that I am. Not a stressed out nightmare." He looked at his brother. The person who knew him better than anybody was about to get a whole new insight into him. "Do you remember when we were about seven or eight, and I was home sick from school, and Dad was off, and you and him went to the gun range after school?"

Will thought back. "Vaguely. I mean, that was like thirty some years ago."

"Okay, well whatever," Clint waved his hand, "the age doesn't matter. Do you remember how much Dad was braggin' you up at the dinner table?"

Will closed his eyes. "Yeah," he said after a moment. "I hit four bullseyes." He smiled, remembering. "That was when we started making regular trips to the range."

"Exactly," Clint replied. His brother still looked lost, and so Clint pressed on. " _You_ made it a regular thing. For like three weeks straight, that's all you guys did, was go to the range every spare minute you had." He took a drink and chuckled. "God, you shoulda heard Dad talk about his little Clint Eastwood."

A light dawned in Will's eyes. "That was when you started practicing with the compound bow," he realized.

Clint nodded. "Yup." He shook his head and stared down at the city lights below them. "I used to fire off arrows until my arm was so sore I couldn't lift it." He glanced at Will from the corner of his eye. "I wanted Dad to brag _me_ up." He let out a breath. "I was gonna outshine my little brother come hell or high water."

"You never told me any of this," Will said. He shook his head in disbelief. "And I never saw it." He sighed. "Apparently I grew into being an analyst."

"When we were comin' up that tunnel, Jane said I was jealous of you," he said. Clint looked his brother in the eye. "She's right."

"Well, you're not half as jealous of me as I am of you," Will countered. "For one thing, if I had to listen to anything about the 'Amazing Hawkeye' one more time, I was gonna punch a wall." He looked at his brother. "Or you."

Clint smiled. "For another thing…." Will downed the last of his tequila. "You're my big brother so…I've looked up to you from day one. I mean, even though we're identical or whatever, people always said, 'there goes the Brandt boys, and boy that Clint-yada yada yada'." He looked at him. "Loki said it, you know."

At the name, Clint's whole body tensed. Will touched a hand to his arm and after a moment, Clint relaxed. "Loki said you had heart." He looked at Clint. "He wasn't wrong."

Clint paused, listening to the traffic. "We're a messed up pair," he admitted.

"Yeah we are," Will said. "But come on, we save the world from terrorists and space aliens-"

"And jackass billionaires."

"-and jackass billionaires, present company not included," Will jerked a thumb back at Tony's living room and Clint grinned. "So we're bound to be a little screwed up."

"Yeah," Clint replied after a moment. "I guess so."

"So….that fight we had the other day…"

Clint grinned. "What fight?"

Will laughed. "All right, well screw this, man, I'm freakin' cold. I'm goin' inside. You coming?"

Clint nodded. "In a minute." Will eyed him. "I swear," Clint said. "Just a sec."

* * *

He waited until Will had gone inside, saw him snake a hand around Jane's waist. She said something and he laughed.

Natasha caught his eye through the window. He offered her a smile, and she nodded back. Amazing how you could have a whole conversation and never move your lips.

He looked up in the sky, catching snowflakes on his face, but he couldn't feel them. "Coulson, man," he said. "God damn it, I miss you. I'm sorry, Phil, so sorry, that I wasn't there to help you." He sighed. "I'll spend every day of my life making it up to you, one goddamned space monster, terrorist, mutated bunny, whatever, at a time."

Clint chuckled. "I'm talkin' to myself. So much for being better." He pushed back from the railing and turned to go inside. A light breeze caught his jacket and ruffled his hair. He froze, then looked back.

No one there. "Thanks," he said after a moment.

He'd be okay, he decided. He had his little brother. He had Natasha. He had his team. His _family_.


End file.
